The Banners We Fly
by Sherlock'sbones
Summary: The year is 2212 and the Frontier Insurrection is reaching it's fever pitch. In a desperate turn of events, both sides will uncover secrets that should've stayed in the past. Secrets, that will test pilots on both sides to question which banner their loyalty truly lies. 6/20/17 - First 2 chapters have been updated/edited. Year was changed to be more accurate to Cooper's Dogtags.
1. Chapter 1A: QSF

Yuma System

Aboard the 'Red Eye', preparing to jump to planet Victor

2212, March 6th, 1020h

"I'd never consider myself to be a pirate," Vlocke mused, cockily twirling his B3 Wingman in his fingers. "But a marauder? Sure. Has a nice ring to it." He holstered his Wingman and picked up a set of EVA-8 shotgun drum mags from the arms bin and began to slide in its 12-gauge rounds. "But two meals a day, bottom of the barrel equipment, and less ammo than a priapist's left nut, we are just not equipped to do shit against the IMC anymore." He paused, tucking the drum into a pouch. "Most of the grunts on the ground have fired a gun, give or take… once. Most of our pilots have used a pirated Hammond's maybe just as much. And as Bish, just said on the comms, the only tosser who knew how to plan these types of raids just croaked this morning." He grabbed another drum and loaded in more rounds. "I mean, fuck, what about the titan maintenance? Ya think Sarah's gonna manage on her own?"

"Vlocke, shut up," Tyrena silenced him, adjusting her Kevlar stomach plate. She put her boot up against the bench and pulled out her knife. The blade still had its sharp glean from the last mission it and she slipped it back in. "Shit's bad, don' need to tell everybody the obvious." She began to pull her chestnut hair into a bun.

"Look," Vlocke continued dryly, "I've a better chance of greasing myself up and going through the slip dive, than we do against the whole IMC."

"We're not going up against the whole IMC, Vlocke," Cut in Briggs. "This is a remote refueling station far from their Forward Strike Bases. If we're lucky, we'll meet little resistance and get refueled before the First Response Teams arrive." Briggs opened up a weapons locker to retrieve his carbine as well as a couple magazines.

"Is that the mission then?" Vlocke asked.

"That's right," Briggs confirmed, slapping the side of his helmet to remove the static from his in-helmet heads-up display. The luminescent display flickered to life. "We're to deploy from the Crows within the hour and deactivate three auto-turret emplacements on the ground in sector G. Meanwhile, the civie fleet is coming in right behind us and we have to keep the guns offline and secure until they're done. What's left of our fighter group will provide air support where crucial. I repeat: _crucial_. We don't have very many Hornets left after the last two engagements, so no calls unless necessary."

"What can we expect in way of Titan support?" Tyrena broke in, picking up a well-worn Kraber-AP she'd picked up two missions back. She ripped out the magazine to inspect it.

"Most of our Titans are still in the repair bay, but Bish estimates we have some 32 still functional chassis remaining on stand-by. Sarah expects that six more should become available during the mission."

"What's the terrain like in sector G?" a Grunt spoke from the back of weapons room. Briggs saw that the locker room was quickly becoming a briefing room.

"Captain Dunham says it's Old Wealth houses and unstable ground. Seeing as how he's ex-IMC, he knows the area best."

"What's our support going to be comprised of?" Vlocke asked.

"We'll have five squads of Grunts deployed under McCord, Little, Childs, Schumacher, and Stewart. Childs and Stewart are at half strength." A Grunt groaned.

"Who isn't these days?" Vlocke muttered under his breath and several Grunts groaned in agreement.

"Stow it, Vlocke!" Briggs responded, cleared irked. "We're cutting it close as is. We don't need any more crap on top of it."

"Sorry, Sir." Vlocke tucked in another mag into a pouch.

"Alright, shit has been real quite-seriously-fucked the last couple of weeks, but that's all going to change," Briggs barked, loading bullets into his magazines and tucking them away. He slapped one into his rifle before ending his impromptu briefing. "Pilots, prepare for drop."

"Decoupling now, standby for departure," the pilot spoke over the intercom.

"Hey Bish, you coming with us?" Vlocke shouted to the second in command and expert hacker over the noise of the engines.

"Yeah, this raid is critical to our survival. I can get a better fix on each squad's progress from low orbit," he shouted back looking up from his laptop. Behind him in the cockpit, Sarah was standing with the drop ship pilot, the Red Eye's nose art emblazoned on her back. The intercom buzzed again; "Jumping in three, two, one… mark!"

"Oh, this always makes me sick," Vlocke complained.

"Good thing your helmet's open." Briggs shoved Vlocke's shoulder. The cabin of the Crow quickly became absorbed in bright, luminescent light as the short range FTL drives powered up for matter displacement. In less than a second, the Crow was already in the planet's lower atmosphere.

Not missing a beat, Bish reminded the team what was at stake. "The Civilian Fleet is right behind us, most of the ships are running on fumes right now."

"We're out of options," Sarah added, "it's now or never." She walked toward the ramp controls by the back of the cabin and pulled down the primary ramp release. Hot air billowed into the cabin, ruffling her spiked hair while simultaneously deafening the Crow. She turned back to the squad of Pilots in front of her. "Either way we need this fuel or none of us are going to make it. The fleet's counting on you! Go, go, go!" The Pilots ran and leaped off the ramp. In front of the jump zone, several Crows were deploying Grunts on the ground via ziplines. The stabilizers kicked in and each Pilot landed deftly upon the asphalt. As Briggs stood up from the landing, Captain Dunham, in his typical fashion, swaggered onto the scene in his Atlas titan relaying orders to the Grunts.

"McCord, take your squad up this road! The rest of you move through this building behind me and secure the area!" Dunham closed the hatch from within his Atlas and lumbered toward the large bombed-out cement building behind him.

"You heard him," Briggs addressed Tyrena. "Get your rifle atop that building and give us overwatch. Vlocke. Vlocke! Quit your bellyaching and move up with McCord on Hardpoint Bravo!"

"Roger that." Vlocke shook his head while he furiously rubbed dust from his eyes. "Damn, shit in my eyes." Tyrena chuckled at the sight as she ran for the building.

"You'll catch a bullet if you don't move, Pilot!" Briggs reprimanded him.

"Copy!" Vlocke swore under his breath.

Tyrena pulled herself up the edge of the roof and scanned the complex. She could see several dilapidated houses. As she scanned towards the north, to where Hardpoint Alpha was on her HUD, She could see the white and grey colors of an IMC Goblin dropship. "Captain Dunham, IMC forces dropping in from the north."

"Got it. What's their strength?"

"Standard QRF deployment, they've got pilots dropping in."

"I knew this wouldn't be easy," Dunham breathed.

Briggs' comm crackled with Bish's voice: "Ok boss, take as many hardpoints as you can, patch me into them, and I'll take care of the rest." Bish's video feed disappeared from the top right of his HUD.

"You heard him, boys!" Briggs smacked the shoulder of the Grunt in front of him. "We need to take these turrets offline - _yesterday_!" The Grunts replied affirmatively and the squad continued through a broken pipe section along the cliff face. The Grunts moved quickly through the pipes, keeping their weapons trained at every possible opening. The grunts advanced into the residential building as they neared the end of broken pipe.

"We'll clear this building and regroup with you at the objective!" the squad leader said to Briggs.

"No prey, no pay!" said Briggs, tapping the M-Cor logo atop his helmet enthusiastically.

"You heard the Pilot, let's clear this sector of IMC!"

"Hoo-ah!" the squad thundered.

Briggs turned and made his way through a ditch and into another section of fragmented pipe. The ground itself looked recently fractured, as if the earth itself was going to collapse. The earth-made trench led out into an open field with a clear view of the building where Hardpoint Alpha was housed. Briggs crouched under a rock shelf and slowly edged his head out to peek around the corner. The AA gun's barrels were working in a rhythmic fashion firing inter-atmospheric shells at the refueling militia fleet.

Footfalls echoed right above him and his entire body clenched and froze. He could overhear a woman's voice say, "… unit Six en route." He crouched low and waited for the Pilot to pass. Briggs moved back along the rock and peered back to where the Grunts should be. A moment or two later, gun fire erupted and flashes emanated from the building. They were short bursts, which told him it was an automatic weapon. And judging by its high pitch it was no doubt an R-97. Briggs grimaced - there was no return fire. As per usual, Grunts were useless and no doubt he would have to take the point on his own.

The Pilot jabbed a stim into his thigh, and with a burst of adrenaline and speed, Briggs made a mad dash between cover and the Hardpoint. In a matter of seconds, he boosted himself into the second story window and had already scanned the entire room. An IMC Grunt was at the command console. Before his mouth could open, Briggs had already released two rounds of his 101c straight into the Grunt's abdomen with a final sighted shot into his skull. Instinctually, he moved forward to secure the gun console.

Gunfire erupted, tearing up the floor next to him and flinging scraps of floorboard everywhere. Briggs leapt from the floor to the wall and onto the banister above in a single fluid movement. A quick kick knocked one Grunt to the floor, then using the butt of his carbine, he smashed another one in the chest plate. The force sent their weapons flying and Briggs couldn't help noticing how clean their recently manufactured rifles were. Sending a few bullets casually their way to finish the job, Briggs discarded his own battered piece and picked up the newly-made hardware. Even through his helmet he could practically smell the assembly line.

 _I could use an upgrade_. The seasoned pirate couldn't resist trailing his fingers along the stock and grip of his new prize.

Bish cut into his reverie. "You can admire the nice, shiny gun later, Briggs. How about patching me in first? These Hardpoints aren't going to capture themselves."

Briggs gave a reluctant sigh and holstered his new prize. "Copy that, Bish." He leapt over the banister back onto the floor by the console. The proximity broadband interceptor chip located on Briggs' suit was already reconfiguring the automatic turret systems before he hit the ground. What felt like a leisurely twenty seconds to Bish, was a goddamn long time to Briggs. The Pilot darted his focus toward the several possible entry points an enemy pilot might appear from, becoming increasingly nervous as the short term stims wore off.

"Got it, Hardpoint secured. Briggs, move onto 'B'."

"What's happening at 'B'?" Briggs asked into his comms.

Vlocke howled as he detonated his satchel charges, billowing dust and debris out of the windows. "How do you like my Frontier hospitality?" Vlocke cackled. An IMC Grunt stumbled out of the dust, dazed from the blast. Vlocke's Eva-8, lovingly named 'Eve', was more than happy to remove his head with a satisfying _ka-thunk_. Vlocke gave out another excited howl. A squad of IMC Grunts burst in through a ground floor window, immediately putting rounds in Vlocke's direction. "Not the face, not the face!" as he quickly tucked behind a pillar.

"Enemy pilot engaged, we need backup!" a Grunt yelled into his comms. A moment later a Titan's 40mm cannon shells tore through the sidewall.

"Fuck your arsehole!" Vlocke shouted. "Tyrena, where's that prick shooting from?"

"Say please." She purred.

"Seriously?" He spat.

"Mhmm." she chuckled warmly.

"Gah, fuck you, too." Vlocke dove from his cover and let Eve rip out 12 gauge slugs. He bounced off the floor and grappled onto a wall away from the shells. Another 40 mil ripped through just inches in front of him. "It's getting a little airy in here!" he screamed. An IMC grunt aimed from around the wall but Eve discouraged him by shredding off a portion of concrete near his arm. "Tyrena!?" Vlocke cried out desperately. An answer came in the form of a whistling anti-Titan missile.

"You're my Valkyrie, girl!"

"If I was a Valkyrie, you'd be dead," Tyrena said, twisting another rocket pod into her Archer before slinging it onto her back.

"What? You'd be shooting at me?" Vlocke said, confused.

"I…" She rolled her eyes. _I don't know why I even bother._ "Do you even know what a Valkyrie is Vlocke?"

"It's got tits and wings, Ty."

 _That's not wrong._ "Yeah, but she kills mortals."

"Sexy, ain't it?"

"Redneck."

"Oh, and she's got a nice arse in that Pilot suit."

 _That fucker!_ "IT'S NOT – MY FAULT – MY SUIT – IS – TIGHT!" Tyrena used each consecutive shot to emphasize her words. She pulled back the bolt of her rifle, ejecting the last round of the magazine and sent it flying away.

"Yeah, whatever." Vlocke replied dismissively as he jumped over a curved banister behind the Hardpoint's console. The loud cracks of the AA gun echoed overhead. Occasionally, an AA shell would fall through the broken skylight and land by the console.

"Hey, Vlocke, I'm getting interference in that area," Bish said over comms.

"Uh, that means a Pilot's close, right?"

"Yeah man, the interceptor chips cancel each other out."

Vlocke surveyed the hardpoint. There were friendly grunts coming down the stairwell behind his position. Suddenly, an audible, metallic clang echoed off the floor near him. He realized that it could be an Arc grenade, but before he could react it went off. An electromagnetic pulse interfered with his helmet HUD, trashing the display and sending the room in a momentary white light.

The short range blast of the Arc grenade knocked him to the ground. _Bloody hell, that hurts._ As the HUD cleared, a shimmer descended from the ceiling. Suddenly, several, quick shots burst forth, uncloaking an IMC Pilot as Grunts tumbled down the stairs lifelessly. The Pilot holstered his Smart Pistol and approached the console. Vlocke puffed his cheeks, desperately trying not to cough, breathe, or even fart.

Many men in the front lines upon seeing their foe within arm's reach, either freeze or attempt to attack carelessly. The Militia, being the hodge-podge of homesteaders, criminals, and freedom fighters that it is has a wild gap between its veterans. Vlocke had seen homesteaders fire whole magazines and still miss their targets, criminals more interested in putting rounds into a Titan wildly than running away. What they misunderstood about combat was that they were not Pilots. Pilots are better physically adapted to pain and stress, while also seeing the battlefield in a 3D perspective. They were by far, the best of the best that each side had to offer, it also meant rampant stim addiction and unhinged personality disorders. This meant that most Pilots were crazier than most.

Vlocke did not have a problem with this.

 _Aw right, don't go mucking it up now. Wait for it._ If he wasn't careful, the Pilot would tag him. He just needed to get to him under three seconds before the Smart Pistol locked on. At the right moment, he fired his stabilizers off the ground as a means of closing the gap on the enemy pilot.

The pilot turned to face Vlocke as he jetted toward him. The man raised his Smart Pistol to aim at Vlocke, but was tackled in the process. The two Pilots rolled into a mahogany book shelf, spilling some old holo-records and antiques. The IMC Pilot struggled with Vlocke's grip before gaining the upperhand. The man threw a punch into his nose and Vlocke retaliated by spittting into the Pilot's face. His foe shook his head in disgust and promptly tried to punch Vlocke's nose again.

"Not the face!" Vlocke shouted for the second time today. He head butted the IMC Pilot. The helmet caught the Pilot's neck guard, cutting his lip but not releasing his grip. Taking another chance, Vlocke grabbed the pilot's chestplate and pulled him back for another head butt. This caught the Pilot mostly in the face, causing him to bite his tongue. Vlocke believed he had just got the upper hand. The Pilot boosted up and quickly grappled the wall, giving Vlocke just moments to dodge the incoming stabilizer-assisted kick. Vlocke rolled up into a crouch just feet away from the Pilot and console. _This better fucking work!_ Vlocke said to himself as the IMC Pilot pulled out his sidearm. A loud crackle and whir thundered over head and Vlocke rolled backward out of the ruined building and into the protective field as his Titan landed. He quickly got up and gave his opponent the fingers before leaping into his Titan's awaiting cockpit.

"Get ready for payback fuckah!" By the time the hatch had sealed and Vlocke took aim with his chaingun, the pilot had vanished.

An Arc grenade fizzing his screens said otherwise. A moment later, the proximity alarms sounded notifying Vlocke that a pilot had boarded the top of the Titan. Vlocke grunted and attempted to shake the Pilot off to no avail.

"Warning, an enemy Titan is targeting you." The onboard computer alerted Vlocke.

"I can see that!" Vlocke grunted.

"I see him," Tyrena said into her comms, "Hold still Vlocke."

"Kind of in the middle of something." His Atlas scooted back quickly trying to avoid the enemy Atlas' barrage of missiles. The IMC Pilot atop his Titan ripped off the latch covering the core manifold. Tyrena's ballistic CPU built into her scope adjusted for micro vibrations for as she tried to adjust her crosshairs over the Pilot. She squeezed the trigger and the rifle thundered delivering a round that ricocheted off of Vlocke's Titan and grazing the Pilot's stomach. The IMC Pilot put a hand onto his stomach clutching the wound. Vlocke's Titan smashed into a building and the Pilot finally fell off.

"Thanks Ty." Came Vlocke's grateful reply.

"Mhm." She replied slid back the bolt to release the spent round. The bolt and the shell jammed inside of the receiver. She tried the bolt again but it was wedged tight. _Guess that's what happens when you push your luck too far._ It was inevitable she knew, but she had hoped it wouldn't happen on this mission. Though that's what she had said on the last mission. "My rifle's jammed, it'll take too long to field strip it. Anyone got a lead on a replacement?" She hoped that she could find another.

"Negative." Briggs voice replied, "Shame though, that was a sexy piece."

"She was." Tyrena said remorsefully and pulled out the half used mag and dropped the rifle. She unholstered her sidearm, a P2011 and pulled back the slide. Tyrena grabbed the ledge of the building, cloaking as she went, and dropped on to the grass landing in a crouch. She ran through a bombed out building, keeping an eye out for any enemies. Just ahead, Tyrena could see IMC grunts filing into the building housing Hardpoint 'B'.

"Pilot, your Titan's good to go. Call when ready." Sarah said giving her a head's up.

"Copy." She whispered. The battle was picking up. Several more dropships were coming in on both sides and a quick glance up showed IMC and Militia ships engaging in danger close combat in low orbit. It was a mess. Out of the chaos though she could see the _Red Eye_ taking damage from the ground based turrets. It was a sitting duck while being refueled.

To confirm her fears, a large explosion erupted on the _Red Eye_. Bish's video feed came up onto her screen, "I know you guys are fighting hard but the _Red Eye_ is taking some serious damage. You need to keep those turrets offline for as long as possible."

"They're doing what they can, Bish," Sarah responded, "We're taking a pounding on all fronts."

"I know, things aren't going easy."

"Easy?" Sarah said heatedly, "Most of our dropships are being picked off by Phantoms. This'll be a miracle if we pull this off!"

"I know…" Bish's feed went silent.

"Let's give them the time people." Briggs said over the comms

"Aye aye!" Tyrena said eagerly moving from her cover into Hardpoint 'B'.

"You got it, boss," Vlocke copied.

Inside the building, Tyrena saw IMC troops firing on Militia across the street. Tyrena could hear them call it in, "We've got Militia opposite our position, requesting Titan support." Faintly over the comms a Titan Pilot responded, "Confirmed, moving in to support." She heard enough, Tyrena kicked the closest Grunt and gunned down the other three quickly. Grabbing one of the fallen grunt's carbines she readied herself for to engage the incoming Pilot.

A foot hit her in the back of her leg forcing her onto her knees. An arm swiftly locked around her neck, suffocating her. She struggled for a second to break free of the grip.

"This is for Captain Riggs." A harsh voice said to her ear before swiftly twisted her neck. Tyrena's vision caught a glimpse of her killer, the sight not registering fully as her head was not facing 180 degrees in the wrong direction. The IMC Pilot released his grip and Tyrena's body slumped to the floor, paralyzed from the neck down. The man took a few paces from her before speaking into his comm, "Militia Pilot down, that's a couple thou for me." Tyrena choked for breath that would not come as her vision faded out.

"Tyrena's down, we've got a pilot down!" came the frantic call over the comms. _Damn this is all going to shit._ Briggs said to himself. He heard Vlocke's voice respond, "Give me her last position, I'm not leaving her for the IMC to collect."

"Cancel that," Briggs said into the comms as he hauled himself up a ledge into a building's second floor.

"What? Briggs you got to be joking!" Vlocke shouted.

Briggs arched himself against the building's interior, "I know she's one of us Vlocke but the mission comes first."

"Fuck you to hell!" Vlocke yelled back.

"That's a direct order Vlocke!" Briggs yelled at him.

"Captain Briggs, just what the hell is going on down there?" Bish demanded.

Briggs knocked a new mag against his head and slide it into his R-101c, "Chaos, Commander Lorck. Childs is down, Captian Dunham is KIA and I can't reach McCord or Schumacher on any of the frequencies."

"Damnit." Bish cut out.

Things were going bad, really bad. He had counted at least three enemy Pilots but seeing as how dire things were getting, more may have been deployed. _Outnumbered and outgunned._ On his NavMap, Alpha was under IMC control again and Bravo was right behind it. His best bet was for them to reinforce Charlie until evac arrived.

"All units, this is Captain Briggs, fall back to Hardpoint Charlie and await evac. I repeat all units under my authority dig in around Charlie to await evac." Briggs used another stim as he jumped from the second story and took off towards Charlie. He passed the remains of Captain Dunham's destroyed Titan and soon linked up with a squad of Grunts.

"This is all QSF, Sir!" The grunt remarked.

"Don't need to tell me Grunt. I'm well aware." Briggs grabbed him by the shoulder so he could speak to him clearly, "Pull back to Charlie, on the double. Evac's on the way!"

"Copy, sir!"

Briggs released his grip and continued to move towards 'C'. "Sarah, I'm requesting Titanfall." He painted the drop point on his HUD.

"Standby for Titanfall." She replied and in moments his Titan slammed into solid ground. Briggs jumped for the cockpit as his Titan reached out and pulled him in. Once he was inside, he shut the hatch and flipped some switches. He recognized some of the patchwork Sarah and her crew had done on his Titan while in dry dock. As patchy as it was all systems were green.

He waved the grunts towards him with his titan's hand and they broke into a sprint to get clear. The Titan's protective dome was still in place and a couple Archer rockets collided into it as well as stray small arms fire. _What a cluster fuck._ Briggs breathed in and began to cover the infantry's escape by firing a rocket salvo down the street towards the advancing IMC.

Vlocke smashed into an enemy Titan by the shoulder. He could tell by the readout that he was winning. The enemy Stryder's shields were down and his last salvo had knocked out its 40mm cannon. The enemy titan boosted away sliding on its roller wheels designed for quick maneuverability.

"You're not getting away, you little shit." Vlocke fired off his chaingun, scoring several hits up the left side of the chassis. Losing its balance, the enemy Titan crashed into the side of chunk of recently pushed up rock. Vlocke boosted into to finish the kill as he saw the Titan collapsed onto its knees. He flung his Titan's fist into the stryder's cockpit and ripped out the IMC Pilot.

Vlocke examined the Pilot, it was a CQB Pilot and the one he had fought earlier but he wasn't sure. _Eh, all of them look the same_. The man struggled in his Titan's grip, his arms feebly trying to escape. Vlocke saw that just a few meters away that the cliff to his left was above a large valley.

"I hope you can fly!" Vlocke pulled back his Titan's arm and chucked the pilot towards the valley. "Alright Bish, where was Tyrena's last position?" Vlocke demanded.

"Just inside Hardpoint 'B', but I think this is a bad idea, Vlocke."

"Noted." Vlocke wheeled about face and headed towards Hardpoint 'B' just north of his position. He had to get Tyrena out one way or another. He approached the same blown out opening he had fought the CQB Pilot earlier.

"Titan engaging guard mode." The onboard computer notified Vlocke as he exited the Cockpit.

"Just wait for me Zeke." Vlocke said to his Titan as he equipped Eve.

An IMC grunt was dragging his injured comrade just up the stairwell. Without a moment's pause Vlocke fired at both. Another two grunts were on the opposite end of the room firing at the retreating Militia. Vlocke fired another two rounds into both and slun Eve onto his back. He needed both hands for Tyrena's body. Vlocke engaged follow mode for his titan and he met it just around the corner. He quickly opened the hatch and put Tyrena's body inside the cockpit.

"Unidentified Pilot," the AI's voice began as Vlocke closed the hatch.

"Just keep her safe for me." Vlocke said as he injected a stim into his blood stream. Once again his vision blurred slightly as the immediate-acting effects started. He boosted up the side of the wall onto the roof and began to sprint towards the remaining bastion of Militia control: Hardpoint Charlie. From his vantage point, it was quick two jumps back to the evac point. Vlocke could feel his heartbeat as his boots connected with the solid floor. As he leapt through the air onto the next building time seemed to slow down. He quickly glanced over his right to where his Titan was keeping pace just over his shoulder.

"Warning, Auto-Titan engaging enemy Titan." The onboard computer warned him.

"Do not engage, keep following me." Vlocke yelled back over his comm to his Auto-Titan. He hoped it wasn't a mistake.

"Confirmed, resuming follow mode."

"Vlocke," Briggs voice came over his comms, "The hell were you thinking?"

"She'd do the same for us!" Vlocke responded and leapt off the second building into the friendly zone. He saw Briggs' Titan just off to his left as he dove for cover.

"Damnit, Vlocke, two more enemy Titans just dropped in, I need your help to cover the evac site."

"But…" Vlocke protested.

"Now, goddamnit!"

Vlocke's Titan had circled the building and was staring directly at him. It seemed to be pleading with him as well. "Alright, alright!" The Titan opened the hatch and Vlocke put Tyrena's body on the roof. He looked about for a quick second and yelled towards a Grunt. "If her body doesn't get on the Crow, neither do you!" and with that Vlocke stepped into his Titan. He kissed his fingers and then touched them to the top of the cockpit for good luck.

Briggs was ducked behind a structure as his titan reloaded the chaingun with his last drum. What was left of the evac site was a handful of what remained of Little, Stewart, and Schumacher's squads. But that was the least of their worries.

An emergency frequency blipped onto the screen. "Mayday! Mayday! This is the _Red Eye_! We're going down, we're going down!" From low orbit, the hulk of the _Red Eye_ careened over the battlefield as gravity pulled her down towards the earth. A loud and long shriek of the ship's engines reverberated in Brigg's teeth. Transmissions began to come in all over the comms but Sarah's frequency cut them short.

"We've lost the _Red Eye_ to the IMC, we're aborting the mission, get out of there!" Sarah said over the comms.

Briggs' Titan came about the corner and fired several rounds at two IMC Titans down the street. He had to quickly take cover again before they returned his fire shredding his cover. He boosted out again and fired another salvo before their shields could recharge. Most of the rockets flew past but some of them scored a hit. The IMC were quickly boxing them in and soon enough Briggs might not even have an exit to get to.

"Vlocke, talk to me! How's your flank?"

"Peachy," came the strained reply.

"Keep up the fire, we have to buy as much time as we can."

"I know." Vlocke said curtly.

Briggs saw off to his left was a caved in wall just by the Charlie hardpoint and above it, an entrance to the roof. That was his exfil, the second the Crow made touchdown he'd bug out through that hole. His onboard computer reminded him that multiple titans were engaging him.

"Vlocke, it's getting crowded here."

"Sorry boss my Titan got wasted, I'm ejecting now."

"Copy that." Briggs opened his hatch and made a jump for the caved in wall.

"Hey!" came a shout behind him. Briggs looked to see the Grunt from earlier looking up to him. "Thanks for coming back for us sir!" The Grunts behind him were stacking up the wall trying to make their way for the Crow.

"Just get onto the Crow!" Briggs shouted back and boosted up the wall out of the hole. Once he got onto the roof, he could see Vlocke heaving Tyrena onboard before he clambered on as well. There wasn't much cover between him and his ride out of here, but if he didn't try he'd be left behind. _No prey, no pay._ Briggs made a run for the dropship suddenly falling forward onto his stomach causing his nose to smash into his faceplate. He shook his head and looked towards the dropship. Vlocke was shouting something and waving his hands behind the Crow's shield. Briggs' couldn't make out what he was saying over the sound of gunfire all around him. He tried to stand up but he couldn't feel his legs. Briggs looked down to see why. _Oh, my legs gone. Well, shit._

Briggs' body disappeared in a cloud of smoke kicked up by automatic titan fire. The dropship door began to close and the engines began to throttle. "We can't wait any longer, we're out of here." The Crow's Pilot shouted and the Crow quickly climbed and white light enveloped the cabin. A moment later the ship was in outer atmo. Vlocke slammed his fist against the hull.

"Fuck!"

Vlocke unhitched the clasp on his helmet on and dropped it onto the floor. Tyrena's body was still next to him on the floor and he cast it a solemn gaze. "I'm bad luck now aren't I?" Over the Crow pilot's intercom Bish and Sarah could be heard discussing the aftermath of the raid.

"Well, we've got enough fuel for another month," Bish reported.

"It was chaos down there Bish, our tactics were a mess."

"Sarah, neither of us has any experience leading a force this size."

"Then, we're gonna have to work with what we've got; We're out of options," Sarah stated firmly.

"Alright, all incoming dropships board the _Annapolis_." Vlocke heard over the Pilot's intercom. Out the window, floating derelicts and debris could be seen scattered throughout the planet's lower atmosphere and in deep space. Smaller fighters and ships scattered looking for dry dock while the IMC fleet closed. Birmingham class ships closed in with their main guns ready to deliver the _coup de grace_ to the exhausted and worn out Militia Fleet. As their main guns began to open fire, the Militia Fleet flung itself into FTL jump ship by ship.

The Crow touched down on the deck of the _Annapolis_. The side door swung up and the pilot slowly got out of his seat. He took a look at Tyrena's dead body and back towards Vlocke and decided that flying into a hotzone was enough crazy for him today. The pilot left the dropship without saying a word. Vlocke was still holding onto Tyrena, he couldn't really bring himself to leave. There was some commotion outside but Vlocke didn't pay it too much mind. He had let his team down back there on the raid. It was one thing to lose but a whole 'nother thing to have your whole team wiped out. People go mad with that kind of grief.

A team of medics appeared in the dropship and at first they looked at Vlocke expectantly, but he didn't move. He just stared at Tyrena in his arms. A pair of hands clasped his shoulders and Vlocke gave something of a start before he let go of her body. She was lifted up onto to a stretcher and hoisted away. Then he was alone in the Crow.

What he needed was something strong to take the edge off.

"Forget all this shit! I need to stab something, shoot something, or blow something up! Fucking anything!" Vlocke gritted his teeth in frustration and helplessness.

Recovering himself, he checked his pockets for a stim. He found one and jabbed it into his arm and let it fall onto the deck and sighed deeply as the drugs kicked in.

About twenty minutes later he had found an armory in the lower levels. It was similar to the one on the _Redeye_ , in that it was poorly maintained and full of pock marks. The range was all but empty except for the one person firing at the end of the range. The operator was firing his R101c carbine with a bad feeder from what he could tell. He walked down the lanes towards the Pilot, who was in their undersuit. The man grunted in frustration as the gun made another poor burst. He put the weapon down on the counter and removed his earplugs. The frustrated pilot began to tear down the weapon. Vlocke kept walking towards him his eye on the carbine.

"Whoa." The pilot jumped when he noticed Vlocke. The Pilot could see that Vlocke was still covered with dirt, blood, and other battlefield stains. "Hey, what are you…"

Vlocke cut the pilot short by pushing him out of way as he picked up some of the tools and began to fix the problem with the carbine. In a matter of moments, Vlocke had fixed the issue, reassembled the rifle, and slapped in a new mag.

"Fuckkk!" Vlocke pulled the trigger firing a full auto blast down range. When the gun ran dry, Vlocke hopped over the counter onto the range, tossing the weapon aside, and charged the target and began pounding it with his fists. He heard one of his fists crack but he didn't care, he just kept punching until the emotions were gone.

When he had exhausted himself, he collapsed onto the target. He breathed deeply almost wheezing and yelled back towards the other Pilot, "Hey mate, where can I get a drink and a game of stabscotch around here?"


	2. Chapter 1B: Merc's Guide to the Frontier

Yuma System

Aboard the _IMS Sentinel_ , on patrol for 1st Militia Fleet

2212, March 6th, 0745

Sweat dripped down Mayumi's face as she completed the thirty-eighth push up of her second set for the day. Vice-Admiral Graves had brought on an IMC Consultant from the Core Systems, Blisk, who was to assess their combat effectiveness. He would have the pilots in their under armor and boots and drill them like this every day.

"Are you dead over there Ramirez? The Militia loves their dead IMC. You gonna roll over for 'em?"

"Negative, Sergeant!" Ramirez sounded off. He was a dark, muscular man with several tattoos all over his back. Sergeant Blisk squatted in front of Ramirez, smoothing back his blonde hair.

"How'd you pass selection then, eh?"

"Sir, I demonstrated the ability to out maneuver titans on foot." He paused at the top of his push up for a breath.

"Bullshit. I bet your fucked your superior to get here."

"Negative, Sir."

The PA crackled on, "All personnel, this is Vice Admiral Graves."

"Ten-hut!" Blisk quickly snapped to attention and the exhausted pilots struggled to their feet.

"We have a rare opportunity to destroy an entire Militia enemy fleet," Vice Admiral Graves continued, "We know these terrorists are almost out of fuel, but desperation will make them unpredictable. Do not underestimate them. They can't run far and will most likely hit a refueling depot in the next few hours. Spyglass will fill you in."

"Titan pilots," Spyglass spoke with a robotic flatness to his voice, "You will be assigned to dropships at all potential targets in the Yuma System. A heavy patrol rotation will be maintained at all sites." A low collective groan came from the pilots, "At first sign of Militia forces, you will deploy to the ground and ensure that the air defense turrets remain online."

Graves' voice returned to the PA; "You are cleared weapons free for this operation. Stay vigilant. Graves out."

"About time," Winters muttered next to Mayumi.

"You heard him, Pilots!" Blisk shouted, "Alright, hit the showers. I want all of you geared up and to remain on standby until further notice. Ramirez! Come here. _Come HERE_."

* * *

The showers were the center of a small circular wall frame inside of the locker room, with the showerheads facing inward towards the drain. There were six of them in all, one for each member of the squad. Winters led the way in unzipping her under-armor as they went into the room. She threw it haphazardly into her locker and walked into the shower circle. Mercer and Grendel both took spaces besides her based on their squad number.

Mayumi scanned the lockers and found hers on the end and shyly began unzipping her under armor. She pulled out of the sleeves before she bent over to tackle her boots, which had a second set of zip-lace and buckles. The boots stuck around her ankle and she had to pull her foot out quite hard before it came off.

"How about that asshole, huh?" Mercer said opening up the conversation, grabbing a bar of soap off the shelf.

"He's the real deal. I saw his file; he's killed 178 terrorists." Winters said as she scrubbed her blonde hair.

"Uh-huh, sure," Mercer snorted as he lifted his leg and scrubbed his crotch, "Look I'll believe it when I see it. As far as I care, he's a lifer who's out here to keep an eye on us."

"Hey, look who it is." Winters pointed over to Mayumi as she finally entered the shower.

Mayumi stepped into the shower letting the automated shower spray warm water over her face. She raked her hands through her short red hair before applying some shampoo.

"You getting nervous, Mayumi?" Mercer teased.

She scoffed as she turned around to face him, "You'd be an idiot _not_ to be."

"She's right," Winters confirmed, "You get cocky, you die."

"That's why you have a solid A.I. to back you up. Like my Smart Pistol." Mercer flashed a grin.

"It's the smartest thing about you." Winters laughed.

"Fuck you," Mercer snapped.

Winters tried to stop laughing, "I'm sorry, but you made it so easy!"

"You're ready for a fight too, though? Right, Winters?" Mercer asked trying to change the topic quickly.

"Of course I am. It's been _three months_ since we last saw action. That back-water agricultural station wasn't even worth the effort. Just like a drill."

"Yeah, except this is the M-COR, not raggedy-ass hicks with shotguns." Mercer countered, "These guys fight back. Hard."

"What about you, new girl?" Winters nodded in Mayumi's direction, "You worried about the M-Cor?

"This'll be my first real action," Mayumi said quietly. Winters and Mercer grinned broadly at her expense.

"Word is that you survived ' _Whitehead_ '." Mercer commented.

"Grendel and I both came out of ' _Whitehead'_ ," Winters made a hand motion towards Grendel, "well, before he got wiped." Grendel scoffed quietly.

"You mean, before he got a new generation chip?" Mayumi .

"Yeah," Mercer jumped in, "when you extend your contract with Hammond, they get to rewire your brain. Remove most of your memories and experience in exchange for becoming faster and better."

"Makes your contract go from a year to permanent." Winters added.

"You're kidding," Mayumi said in disbelief, "they can't just rewire your brain."

"Contracts, kid. They can do whatever they want." Mercer said while lathering his hairy chest.

"So, why did he do it?" Mayumi starred curiously at Grendel who had his back turned to the group.

"Who knows," Mercer said shutting off the shower, "that guy's not human."

"Maybe you should focus on being your best instead of what other people are doing." Grendel said curtly in a raspy voice. He promptly turned off the shower and walked out.

"What's your problem?" Mercer scoffed.

Grendel stopped in front of Mercer eyed him closely for a second, then left. Ramirez appeared as Grendel was left and almost bumped into him at the door.

"Hey buddy," Ramirez said as he pealed off his under armor to join the rest of the squad. Grendel didn't say anything as he passed him. Ramirez gave Winters a quizzical look. Winters just shrugged and nodded over to Mercer.

"How'd it go with Blisk?" Winters asked.

Ramirez rolled his eyes, "He's a badass hombre, no doubt, but his accent is so Core it hurts. At least with yours it's understandable despite you being from Mars." Ramirez walked over to his shower. Winters pinched his nipple as he passed, "Hey!"

* * *

"Vice Admiral Graves, I have taken into account which planets in the Yuma System that would be able to refuel a fleet the size of the Militia's." Spyglass announced as Graves walked onto the bridge taking his seat.

"And?" Graves said eying the multiple displays of the bridge from his chair. Behind him, Blisk was sharpening his knife paying little attention to what Spyglass was saying.

"It is highly likely that they will attempt to raid this facility, here." the advanced Spectre indicated a planet on the halo-map and the map quickly fizzled and rebuilt itself into a closer map display of the area.

"How sure are you on this?" Graves asked

"Within a margin of error of point-zero-five percent. Planet Victor falls on the weakest part of our patrol rotation."

"How'd that happen?" Blisk interrupted looking up from his knife.

"Because I planned it that way, Sergeant Blisk."

"Explain, Spyglass." Graves folded his arms.

"Due to the unpredictability of the 1st Militia fleet, I increased the rotations around all the other sectors but I18, giving it the most likely chance of receiving a Militia attack."

"Giving us a perfect place to trap their entire fleet in orbit between our two QRF fleets. Good work, Spyglass," Graves commended.

"You gonna put me into the field, sir?" Blisk asked.

"Not just yet, Blisk. I think our pilots can handle them on the ground." Graves eyed the turret emplacements just outside the refueling station.

Blisk scoffed, "Have it your way."

"Spyglass," Graves said to the intelligence analyst assistant, "Ready a Goblin, I'll oversee the drop here personally. Blisk, you'll accompany me and observe the fighting." The vice admiral went back to watching the display screens intently, putting his fingers tips together.

"As you request, Vice Admiral." Spyglass replied.

* * *

"In space, fuel is life, and the Militia fleet is running low," Graves announced to the squad of Titan Pilots packed into the Goblin. He put his hand onto one of the handle bars overlooking the side door. Mayumi was sitting on the deck of the Goblin next to him and looked out of the side of the drop ship. The planet was full of sprawling grey buildings for miles, broken only by the rhythmical 'breathing' of whole swaths of earth.

"Only seven planets in the Yuma system can replenish a fleet of that size. This is one of them." Graves continued, "We've set up turrets, like this one," he pointed to a large two story building they passed, "just in case the Militia decides to pay this site a visit. That's Charlie, this one's Bravo."

Grendel elbowed Mayumi and pointed towards the turret, snapping her focus from the city remains and back onto the mission. The large turret emplacement was atop a building half buried into the earth with several Grunts standing guard around it.

"Bravo, gimme a sitrep," Graves spoke into his headset.

The turret emplacement's guns unfolded out of the side. It raised them to the sky then returned back to rest. "Turret online and operational sir." a Grunt responded.

"Vice-Admiral Graves," spoke a Grunt's voice over the comms, "Zulu Three shows multiple jump signatures three klicks out."

"Blisk, tell Riggs to get his squad on the deck - now." Graves ordered.

Immediately the entire cabin of the Goblin shook as two Militia Crows blew past.

"Sir," Blisk reported from the Goblin's cockpit, "our forces have assembled at rally point Alpha."

Graves paused and looked out onto the battlefield for a few moments before he turned to the pilots, "Pilots, today, you have a chance to establish peace on the frontier- make it count!"

Mayumi pushed herself off the Goblin and landed deftly on the soil below. Wind whistled by her face as she quickly approached the ground. Next to her, Grendel landed in a crouch, holding his rifle in one hand. He had the full sniper head-dress on; a face plate with five ocular lenses and a sniper hood covering the rest of the mask. The squad sniper gave the rookie a brief glance before he cloaked and took off running. Winters landed just a second later and gave Mayumi a shove towards the hardpoint. Mercer touched down and pulled the slide back on his smart pistol and took off following Grendel. Ramirez was last to jump out of the dropship and he coolly walked off after the squad sniper. To his right, Captain Riggs was encased inside of his Atlas Titan handing out orders.

"All Pilots, Secure Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie! The rest of you on me!" With that his hatch closed and Riggs wheeled his Titan around and strode off towards the enemy. "We gotta secure the hardpoints and neutralize all hostiles! Move out!"

Mayumi watched as Winters jumped into a window on the second floor, holding onto the sill for a moment before climbing inside. As Winters disappeared, Mayumi snapped her R-97 to her shoulder and moved into the building through the garage, flanked on both sides by friendly Grunts. The pointman snapped to the side of the doorway and raised his fist to signal the squad to stop. Mayumi rested her left arm onto his shoulder, giving him the go to breach. _Here goes._ She tapped his shoulder and the grunt responded with a nod.

"Go go go go!" the Grunt shouted and burst in through the doorway followed closely by Mayumi. She crouched down on the other side as Grunts ran past. The richly furnished room sported several screens and large crates but no hostiles. In the center was turret A's terminal, around which the Grunts were assembling around protectively. Above her, Winters rushed past them checking the stairwell and disappearing around a corner. The last Grunt in Mayumi's squad moved past the terminal and proceeded by a dilapidated fireplace.

"Clear up!" Winters voice came in over the comms.

"Clear down!" came a Grunt's reply. Mayumi gave her a thumbs up indicating all clear. Winters appeared from upstairs and hopped over the banister.

Winters raised her Hemlock rifle and pointed it at three grunts, "Soldier! You, you and you stay here and guard the terminal. The rest of you form up on me! Mayumi!" Mayumi looked over at Winters who was now surrounded by Grunts, "Move out through the back door and provide flank assist."

"Copy," Mayumi replied and made her way through the back of the house. Outside was a clear grass field with scattered pieces of mining equipment and hydraulic pumps. When she had gone a few paces, the earth began to rumble and the ground in front of her suddenly sank. Mayumi quickly caught her balance and watched the ground rise and then sink 15 feet in either direction. _That's something we never saw at Whitehead_. "This whole zone's coming apart!" She announced over the comms, "Watch your step."

* * *

Blisk rolled his eyes, "Pilot Six, stop gawking and get into the fight. I register eight terrorists in the building due east. Copy?"

"Copy! Pilot Six en route!" Mayumi snapped to.

Blisk put his binoculars down and looked over at graves, "That'll teach her to stay still." Then back to Mayumi, "Right, that's a lap around the cargo bay in full gear when the mission's over."

* * *

Mayumi swore under her breath. _That bastard is always looking for something._ She sprinted over to the building in front of her. Without a moment's pause she burst through a window, gunning down two Militia rebels easily with short even bursts. Mayumi rolled deftly and then spring boarded off the ground into safety behind a wall. The Pilot waited for the rebels finish out their magazines before she rolled out again. Mayumi pivoted out from behind her cover landing consecutive shots on the enemy Grunts. The first barrage racked the first rebel right in the head, his unprotected face absorbing most of the bullet impact. Her bullets struck right through the chest of the second terrorist causing him to spin to the ground. She quickly knocked out a mag from her R-97 and tucked it into her chest pouch. Retrieving a new magazine from another pouch, Mayumi smacked the new mag in and pulled back on the charging handle.

"Six, this is Two," Winters' voice echoed over the radio, "We got trouble at 'B', could use some help over here."

"Copy that," Mayumi replied.

* * *

"Alpha's going down," Blisk reported, "Unit One, get on it now."

"Every second those guns are down, we lose the upper hand. Get on it, pilots," Graves ordered.

"This is One," Ramirez sounded off, "Copy on order." He was spotting for Grendel as the squad sniper sighted targets with his G2A4. "Sorry, Grendel, duty calls." Grendel simply nodded and continued to fire at Militia Grunts.

Taking a deep breath, Ramirez pushed off the ground and leaped from the overlook onto a ruined building to his north. He rolled over the wall and onto the second story of the building. The house itself was exquisitely furnished. Planet Victor really had deep pockets at one time. Too bad all this fracking killed the planet. _Could've been a nice place to retire_. He came upon the building's blown-out window and from his vantage point, he could see some Militia dropships roping in reinforcements. He sighted his rifle and fired at a couple Militia rebels.

As the two rebels fell to the deck, the others scattered for cover. The sight reminded him of cockroaches scattering after the light flicked on. _Cowards. How did these Militia terrorists ever get to pose a threat to the IMC? You fire a few rounds and they scatter._ Ramirez would've of spat if he didn't have a helmet on. He heaved himself out of the window.

The Squad Leader landed on the deck and rolled into some nearby debris for cover. When he had got his momentum back he popped up from cover and put down two militia soldiers. Ramirez jumped over the debris and sprinted across the field a short distance to the retaining wall just outside of the Alpha AA gun. The gun had been retracted and above it a Crow was roping in more foot soldiers to secure the building. He could deal with the small fry later, had to take out the big fish first.

While moving in closer to the target building, the Pilot activated his radar pulse to scan the path ahead of him. Several enemy units lit up on his screen as orange bodies, four grunts on the lower floor by the array and an enemy pilot up top. _Shouldn't be too much of a problem._ Ramirez grinned to himself. He jump-packed up into a window and quickly came about a corner letting his rifle spit lead across the air towards the Militia Pilot. The terrorist hit the floor and rolled off the side of the landing.

"This is One, engaging Militia at Hardpoint Alpha!" Ramirez called out. The squad leader peeked around the corner just in time to see the rebel pilot run out the other side taking out three soldiers as he brushed past. "Negative, enemy pilot on the move, I'm in pursuit!" The Grunts down below him had mopped up the terrorist and were checking the bodies for intel and smokes. Ramirez leaned over the rail and ordered the squad to follow him. A few of the soldiers looked disappointed to leave their spoils but obeyed orders.

"This is Four," Grendel said, "target headed south-west. Almost clipped him, Top."

"Thanks Four. Alright ladies, we gotta move now."

* * *

Winters ducked behind a wall and a wave of dust rushed past her. She and Mercer had entrenched themselves in B just before this maniac had started detonating explosives. At this rate, the building was going to come crashing down around them. The enemy pilot's shotgun could be heard cutting down friendly units.

"I can't get a good shot. Riggs, give me some room here!"

"I copy, Pilot." Riggs replied cordially.

The 40mm cannon ripped holes through the building's wall, spraying even more dust through the air. Winters couldn't see through all the smoke and dust but she could hear the Pilot cursing over the noise.

She grabbed Mercer by the shoulder and pulled his ear to her mouth, "Can you get a lock on him?"

"Negative, he's moving around too much." He leaned back against the wall.

"Not much use, is it?" When Mercer didn't respond she pulled him back, "Get around him and take him out," She ordered, A missile whistled over head and exploded nearby shaking the ground. A deathly mechanical noise creaked and echoed as Rigg's Titan crashed into the earth causing the Grunts nearby to panic and dive for cover. "Move, Mercer!" Winters practically kicked him as he got up to move around.

 _What a bitch._ Mercer thought as he exited the building. He followed its perimeter, looping around toward the destroyed end by the hardpoint. The Pilot boosted up onto the roof next to the AA gun, its large barrels still firing away at the invading militia fleet over head. Mercer found the sky light and cloaked himself. He then pulled the pin off of one of his arc grenades and sent it careening below onto an unsuspecting squad of rebels. The grenade popped loudly sending out an EMP into the air. Mercer hopped through the window and held his pistol outward as the guidance system locked onto the nearest grunts. Within in a second it was locked and he squeezed the trigger, releasing several rounds in quick order from his pistol. The grunts tumbled down the stairs before Mercer even touched the floor.

"Did you get him?" Winters asked, "He was headed your way."

"No, just some…" before he could finish, Mercer heard a stabilizer jet fire and aimed his pistol in that direction. He was able to catch a glimpse of a pilot coming towards him before he was tackled and rolled into something wooden that shattered. Several books and holo-records spilled over them, which could only mean that it was a book case of some sort. The tan skinned terrorist was punching Mercer in his chest but the suit was thick enough, that most of the blow was dissipated. He flipped the enemy pilot over and whacked him squarely in the face with the butt of his pistol to which the pilot spat in his face.

"Not the face!" the rebel pilot yelled before he head butted Mercer. The blow staggered Mercer and he cut his lip. Before he could stop him, the enemy pilot pulled him back for another and this time Mercer bit his tongue. Blood dripped from his mouth and terrorist thought he had beaten him. _Not a chance asshole._ Mercer leaped back with the aid of his thrusters and aimed his pistol at the terrorist. The militia pilot rolled up into a crouch and just when Mercer was about to fire a titan landed throwing its protective field over the terrorist. The Smart Pistol's bullets ricocheted off the field a second too late. The enemy pilot gave him the finger before he leapt inside the cockpit.

"Fuck this guy!" Mercer cursed and jumped back out the skylight. The enemy's protective barrier dissipated and Mercer tossed his second and last Arc grenade at the Titan. Then doing a double exhaust jump he caught the top of the hatch of the enemy Atlas. Almost immediately the Atlas beneath Mercer tried to shake him off but Mercer's grip was firmly grasped around the hatch opening. It was hard to grasp the core manifold grip with all the moving about though.

"Hurry up and take him out!" Winters shouted over the radio, Mercer looked up and saw a friendly Titan firing Rockets towards him and the enemy titan. _Jesus, she couldn't even wait for me to get off._ Mercer finally grabbed the manifold and tore it open and reached back for his Smart Pistol. There was loud metallic ring and then a sharp pain ripped into his stomach and he immediately grasped the wound dropping his smart pistol.

"Ah, shit, I think they shot me…" Mercer said meekly as he desperately held onto the Titan.

"Just hold on Mercer." Winters called to him as she ripped off another barrage of missiles from her Quad Rocket. The enemy Atlas dodged the barrage and smashed into a building. The impact caused Mercer to fall off the Titan and he slammed into the hard ground.

* * *

"This is Tac Six to Unit Four," Blisk spoke, "Terrorist sniper is directly opposite of you, intercept them."

"Copy." Grendel replied and got up from his position.

"They also took out Rigg's Titan." Winters added, "And shot Mercer. He's hit bad, requesting an evac."

"He knew the risk," Blisk said coldly, "and the contract."

Grendel zoned out the chatter on his feed. He dropped from the ledge he was on and rolled dissipating the impact as he touched the earth. Bursting into a full sprint, he hopped into a building and past several IMC grunts engaging the enemy. A Militia trooper tried to shoot him but Grendel delivered a swift kick knocking him out of the way and into a wall. He prowled further onto the battlefield in search of the enemy sniper.

Arriving at an ideal point, Grendel found himself a corner and cloaked, awaiting his prey. It wasn't long before the friendly grunts continued to push up to his position. Just as they prepared to advance, a militia squad opened up on them from the other side of the street from the cover of an exposed pipe. The Grunts bolted for cover as the heavy fire was poured onto them.

"We've got militia opposite our position, requesting Titan support." One of the grunts turned to Grendel almost pleadingly. Grendel stayed put coldly and drew his knife. Over the comms Grendel heard Mayumi respond. _Rookie. I thought you survived Whitehead? You don't survive it by worrying about the little people._ The grunts in front of him took several rounds and keeled over, a female pilot bent over one of the corpses and retrieved one of the 101-Cs. Grendel wasted no time and leapt from the shadows grabbing her by the neck, his other hand bringing the knife into her side.

"That's for Captain Riggs." He said coolly before using the arm around her neck to crack her spine. "That's a couple thou for me." Grendel let the body drop from his hands as he turned to walk away.

"You've got talent. I'll give you that." Blisk complimented him. Grendel didn't reply, he didn't need any thanks for making bodies.

"Four, I need you back on overwatch." Ramirez ordered him.

"Copy." Grendel accepted as he finished wiping the blood away from his knife. Then he took off back to his position.

* * *

Mayumi cleared up the terrorist around Hardpoint B and regrouped with Winters at Mercer's last known position. The Militia were scattered and in full panic. The sky was rife with fighters and debris from the battle over head. As she neared the scene, Mayumi could see that Mercer was beat up pretty bad. His suit was ripped and soaked in blood. Winters was knelt over him already attending to him with first aid. Without a second thought, Mayumi exited the cockpit of her Stryder and came up to Winters.

"How bad is he?" She asked Winters.

Winters looked up at Mayumi, her face obscured by her helmet, "He's bad, I don't think he'll make it to evac in time." Winters almost seemed worried.

"It's not safe for him here," Mayumi said, "Put him into my Titan."

"Okay." Winters agreed immediately. Mayumi and her draped Mercer over their shoulders and hoisted him into the Titan. As the cockpit shut, a Japanese AI welcomed him into the Titan.

"The terrorist's are in full retreat Tac Six," Ramirez spoke over the comm.

"Good, we have two of the guns and the _Red Eye_ is taking some serious damage. Keep up the good work." Blisk's voice replied.

"You heard him team. We have two of the guns but the Militia controls Charlie. It's their last holdout and most of the rebels are falling back around it. We need to push in and end this battle now." Ramirez ordered his team.

"Yes Sir." The team responded.

"Two and Six, roll up on the right flank by the cliffs, Four and I will push down the main street."

"Sir," Mayumi put in, "Pilot Three is critical, I've put him in my Titan for protection until retrieval."

"Understood." Ramirez copied. Mayumi pulled back on the charging handle of her smg and nodded at Winters. The fellow pilot stared at her for a moment as if waiting for something and then she took off into the field as her Titan came up and helped her inside. It was followed by two more as the remaining team's titans could be heard crashing into the earth from above. Mayumi turned back from the field in time to see a Militia Atlas come storming into view. She rolled into the building as the faded green Titan opened fire at Winters and Mayumi's stryder with Mercer inside. _Shit._

Winters' slid away firing rockets down range towards the renegade Titan. Some of the rounds stop mid air as the enemy Titan's vortex shield collected them and then threw into Mayumi's Titan. Mayumi pulled the Sidewinder off her back and fired tight bursts into the Militia Titan's shields. The enemy pilot didn't react but went straight for the Titan with Mercer inside.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Winters yelled.

"He's after Mercer." Mayumi called back.

The enemy Titan had already disabled her Titan's shield and was ripping the Titan apart. Mayumi's Titan's 40mm cannon broke off as the pilot put slugs through the joint. The crippled Titan fell to its knees as it was slammed into by the terrorist.

"Get away from him!" Winters screamed into her helmet. Mayumi could see Winters' Titan fire several groups of rockets most of them making no effect upon the shields. A half-second later, the rebel put his Titan's fist into the Stryder's cockpit and ripped out Mercer, who struggled weakly in the Titan's grip before being thrown over the side of the cliff. "You fucking bastard!" Mayumi heard her scream over the comms.

"Hold your position Two." Ramirez said

"Sir?" She said shocked.

"You heard me, stand down. I'm not losing another pilot because of reckless action."

"But he killed Mercer!"

"I'm aware but he knew the risks. Unit Six, push through the buildings and into Charlie. I want Militia ground forces shaken before I get there."

"Yes Sir." Mayumi hit her stim flow and went into action racing through the battlefield towards the objective.

* * *

 _Mercer down, Winters getting reckless, and two enemy Titans still in play. Not a bad drop all things considered._ Ramirez mused. He would have to discipline his team when they arrive back on the _Sentinel_. Clad inside his Atlas, he let his chaingun lay down covering fire as Grendel tried to sight in on the enemy Titan with his railgun. The squad sniper was half hidden behind a building inside his Ogre Titan patiently waiting for a clear shot. The enemy Atlas was spry and was proving difficult to destroy.

"We don't have all day Gren." Ramirez coerced him.

"I almost have him." Came the concentrated reply from Grendel.

"Enemy Titan retrieved his comrade." Winters burst in on the team channel, "He's putting her into his Titan. What the fuck is this?"

"Come again?" Ramirez wasn't clear on what she was saying. Nor did he have time for it.

"He killed our guy but is putting his comrade into his Titan. Is this some sick joke?"

"Copy that. Permission to engage, Two."

"About time." She hissed.

He let it slide. There would be time later for him to keep his squad in check but her letting loose on the enemy now would work in their favor. So he let her take her frustration out on the bad guys.

For a brief moment the sun was eclipsed and above Ramirez, the sight of an enemy "brick" careened over head. It's hull alit with flames as it was slowly pulled towards the ground and crashed beyond.

"Hmph," Blisk's channel opened up, "we didn't even kill half their fleet, 54 ships destroyed that's it."

Graves didn't sound very impressed, "How many of those ships were civilian?"

"Today's civilians are tomorrow's Militia, sir. What do you want me to do? Wait?"

"Start a search. I want that fleet found. Graves out."

Ramirez saw the enemy titan emerge from cover and was slammed by Grendel's railgun. The Titan continued to move and Ramirez was about to put his chaingun on it when he saw the enemy crow descend and a pilot emerging from the ruined building. Without wasting time, Ramirez jetted forward and fired a burst that ripped up the pilot's side throwing him face first onto the roof. The auto-titan to his left was then struck again by Grendel and the Atlas shook as its core overheated and then detonated.

Ramirez and Grendel approached the remains of the Militia last stand. The rebels who had been left behind were throwing down their weapons and surrendering. Just outside the building Mayumi and some IMC Grunts were already lining up prisoners as Winters stood over them atop her Titan aiming her BF-R at possible dissenters. Mayumi put her hand to her helmet and spoke into the mic.

"Sir, 27 prisoners with various small arms."

"Good work rookie." Ramirez complimented his new squad member.

"Sir, on the roof, one's still alive." Winters cocked her gun in the wounded pilot's direction.

Ramirez recognized it as the Militia pilot from earlier. He wheeled his Titan up to the edge of the roof and got out. Just behind him Grendel exited too, his G2A4 aimed at the downed man. They proceeded cautiously. The wounded soldier coughed and sputtered. Ramirez unholstered his pistol to put the enemy pilot down.

"Let me kill him sir." Winters said.

"Negative," Graves said before Ramirez responded, "I want him alive." A Goblin dropship touched down on the roof and Blisk pushed open the door and Graves and Blisk walked out flanked on both sides by Spectres. The spectres had flat box shaped heads with shark like mouths painted on, as well as trooper vests. Each Spectre was armed with an R-97 smg, which they carried stiffly. Ramirez backed away from the terrorist and eyed the procession suspiciously. "Sergeant Blisk will take command from here, Pilot. Load your team into the dropship. Good work."

"Yes Sir," Ramirez saluted Graves, who returned the salute, "Alright people, let's go home."

Blisk walked up to Grendel, "You're the one who took out that sniper?" He slapped two thousand credits into Grendel's hand, "You earned that." Blisk turned around and whistled loudly to the spectres who followed him. The units ran forward off the roof.

Mayumi was handing off prisoner duty to a Grunt when the spectres dropped from the roof. She was momentarily surprised by their sudden entrance. The eight robots stood deathly still as if guarding.

"Hammond Industries is taking over here," Blisk said from atop the roof, "All IMC personal are to leave the premises at once." The grunts around her looked a little confused but a few started to wander over to the main street.

"What about the prisoners?" She called up to Blisk.

"Their under my jurisdiction now," He responded, "You just worry about the lap you have to do around the cargo bay."

"Yes, Sir." She saluted and made her way up to the roof. She pulled herself up and noticed Blisk eying her closely as she made her way over to the Goblin. Ramirez and the rest of the squad was already waiting.

"Hurry up Mayumi, let's get off this shit hole." Winters pulled off her helmet pushing back her brunette hair.

"I hear that." Ramirez fist bumped her.

Mayumi quickened her pace and jumped into the dropship. As she turned around to find a place to sit, she looked out the window and heard Blisk shout out a command, "Let's finish this up, eh." From below him, several SMGs began firing casting large shadows of the spectres on the building behind them. Mayumi's eyes widen. She looked back and caught Grendel's gaze. His bright blue eyes were piercing and resembled circles of blue ice.

"Keep it to yourself." He spoke in a hushed tone. Mayumi looked over to see if Winters or Ramirez had seen it too but they were already joking and hitting each other. She turned back to Grendel who leaned back against the side of the dropship casting his face in darkness as the dropship's hull became absorbed in bright white light as they made the jump back to the _IMS Sentinel_.

As the ship reappeared in space debris immediately flanked them. Graves silently observed the rent shards of metal and silent derelicts. He went up to the cockpit and directed the pilot out of the field and then turned back to the Pilots in the hold.

"You did good work today Pilots," he gave them a small nod of appreciation, "Fifty-four kills in upper atmo and several repulses on the ground. While the rest of the fleet escaped, we're tracking their warp signatures and we will find them." In the background, the Goblin approached the _IMS Sentinel_. Around the carrier several Colombia and Birmingham class ships could be seen surrounding it. "Make no mistake, we will secure the frontier and finish the terrorists off once and for all. We will correct what happened at Ares."


	3. Chapter 2A: The Slumbering Beast

Unknown System

Annapolis

2245, March 8th, 1337h

"Mr. Sarakawa, we need those supplies. It is vital to our war effort!" Sarah insisted towards the video screen. An elderly gentlemen of mixed Asian and African heritage sighed as he cleaned one of his ocular implants and replaced it back into his eye socket. The man had a thin beard that came pointed at his chin, a sign of man who stroked it quite frequently. The doctor and head lead of RnD at Kodi Industries was deep into his 70's and his grey, thinning hair was evident of that. As the implant found its plug in his eye socket it made an almost undistinguishable whir as it rotated into place.

"Sarah," Sarakawa said in a sigh, "I've gone over this already and you are trying my patience. But with the untimely death of General Anderson, I'm afraid most of the Militia's credibility died with him. You gave us your word, or rather, General Anderson gave us his word that you would be a match for the IMC and our rivals the Hammond Corporation but this last raid you conducted has shown this was not a worthy investment. Now, if you excuse me, I must consult with the board on our fiscal survivability." The feed cut off and Sarah slammed a palm against the bench. Bish, standing nearby, was a little calmer.

"We'll find a way." He said.

"That was our way," Sarah said seething, "We don't have enough parts to supply our pilots with complete Titans. There's only so many Titans I can cannibalize, Bish."

"Yeah, well, I got something that you might want to hear." He passed her a data tablet.

"What's this?" She asked looking at the display seeing an audio transmission queued up.

"Found this in the system we jumped into, it's some sort of distress call."

"Out here? This is uncharted space, Bish."

"I know but listen to it." The tech guru hit the play button on the recording.

The voice of the transmission was soft and partially grainy but clear and Sarah knew Bish had cleaned it up before hand, "…wait we're a small colony, what the hell are these things?! We need help! Activating the distress beacon now! They're getting through the door; they're getting through the door…"

Sarah was quiet for a second, trying to make sense of the message, "Could be a trap."

"Could be," Bish agreed, "but if not, there's some people there who could give us supplies and could probably give us some new recruits. We're still hurting from Horizon."

"I don't like it, if we get hit out here there's no other corps around to lend a hand. We'll be fucked."

Bish shrugged, "It's something. The crew's gonna need something to keep morale up and helping out some homesteaders in need is just the thing to keep the cause alive."

Sarah leaned over the bench and massaged her neck and took a deep breath, "Okay, let's get a team prepped to check it out. We'll debrief them in a couple hours. Keep on this until then, see if you can trace the beacon back to its source."

"Will do, Sarah."

* * *

 _The fuck happened last night?_ Vlocke frowned and opened a single eye. His head spun and pounded, his throat was dry and ached. Vlocke tried to talk but it just made him cough hoarsely. He rubbed his eyes and slowly tried to get up, it didn't work and he just fell back down on the cot. "Fuck me." he croaked.

"I already did…" A woman's tired voice came from beside him and a hand slapped his face.

Vlocke's head still laid sideways and it didn't feel like moving, so he just groaned instead, "… when?" he gave another cough.

"Couple hours ago… we were still fucked up." The woman groaned.

His voice was coming back," What was I- we - on?"

"Stims…" She said groggily, pulling the sheet over her shoulder some more, "whiskey, benzos, hell anything you could get your hands on you practically took."

"Ughhhh… shit." Vlocke breathed and then he considered as what most people do after an intoxicated one night stand, "I'm not gonna regret anything am I?"

He got another slap, "I'm not ugly, if that's what you mean."

"No, well yes, but what I mean is, what was I doing taking benzos and shit?"

"Dunno, I got there after you punched that guy."

Vlocke groaned again, "Fuck off."

"Look," She said, "you're gonna have to walk of shame out of here okay? I'm still way too fucked up to move."

"What? You're still pissed?"

"I ain't mad-"

Vlocke cut her off, "Nah nah, pissed means hung over, ya know, uh, drunk."

"Whatever." She snuggled up to her pillow and pulled more of the sheet away.

"Hold on, who's room are we in."

"Mine."

"Why does your room have a ramp?"

"It… doesn't."

"Lady," Vlocke chuckled realizing where they were, "We're in a Crow." He squinted looking around the interior.

She groaned but also chuckled, "I'm never partying with you again. That's for sure." She rolled over and lazily placed her palm over his face half-heartedly pushing him away.

"Aye aye," Vlocke coughed again and finally sat up in the bed, which as it turned out were the side seats. _I thought it felt odd._ Vlocke reflected to himself and wondered what in hell he was gonna do now. _Food sounds nice._ _Let's start with food._ "Vlocke. I'm Vlocke."

"Talea."

"Grab some grub?"

She just mumbled something and went back to sleep. Vlocke shrugged and got up to look for his clothes. He retrieved them one by one as they were scattered all about the interior. Boots, a knee pad, socks, pants, the jump kit ( _what did I need that for?_ ), the under shirt, and his helmet. He pulled them on in order and opened the Crow's side door. His eye caught the sign located just above the exit; "Last One Out, Close the Door."

 _Sorry bud, looks like you'll have that responsibility._ He glanced back at Talea who was still fast asleep on the Crow's seats.

Vlocke casually as he could strode along the hanger, fastening the last buckles of the jump kit around his waist. There were crews and other personnel already working on other crafts and other tasks. The _Annapolis_ was a large ship, larger than most ships he'd ever been on and it required a lot of maintenance. Being from a mostly backwater planet, even the brick ship _Red Eye_ was something of a sight for him. As a kid he had to come up with his own fun. He had an avid liking to anything that exploded and would often invite friends to watch as he would blow up things. This came to an end one day when he almost blew up his uncle on his honeymoon, shortly thereafter he joined up with the Militia and it had been a wild ride ever since.

Vlocke's mood had become almost jaunty as he arrived at the mess hall. Most of the effects of last night had begun to wear off. Scattered throughout the hall were various other pilots and other Militia personnel from all over the 1st fleet. Mostly it was stragglers or those whose ship had been destroyed in the raid. It was a stark reminder that this fleet was the first and only fleet the Militia had. With almost half their fleet destroyed in the raid, it also meant that the survivors ended up with more rations. The line was still long and Vlocke walked himself to the end of it. The whole cafeteria smelled almost like food, if you added a ton of engine fuel to it. Or was that the water? Vlocke couldn't remember.

"I hope we get a decent meal today." Someone in front of him said.

"Too right. I just hope it don't taste like Engine fuel." Vlocke added.

"No man, that's the water." The person replied back. He was just slightly shorter than Vlocke with an average build with spiky black hair. He had on half his garb; it was dirty and frayed with holes from either tears or punctures. The boots were worn and almost completely broken in. But what grabbed Vlocke's attention was the badge on his shoulder: it was a silhouette of the _Annapolis_ in the center with the slogan, free the frontier on the bottom. A Shadow Runner part of the 7th Annapolis Company, bloody heroes of the front they were.

"You're a Shadow Runner!" Vlocke blurted.

"That's right, my man," The guy said back, "fresh from the fight too."

"You fought on Horizon?"

"Yeah, most of us did. Looks like you saw some action too, man."

Vlocke awkwardly shrugged, "You could say that."

"How was your chalk?"

"Fucked. Yours?"

"Straight up QSF."

"Too right mate. How many did you lose?"

"We lost a man," the Shadow Runner replied, "I guess you lost a few."

"I was the only one out."

"That's some shit," the man shook his head, "fuckin' IMC. What chalk were you on?"

"Uh, G, I think it was. Can't remember much before or after last night."

"Oh I know you now, yeah," the man turned around and shouted down the line," Hey Frisko! I found the guy! Yeah, get over here!"

Vlocke didn't like where this was going. Reminded him of Du'ganh's Sheriff back home. A moment later, a tall man came over with the same badge as the other guy and even more tan than Vlocke was. "You the crazy bastard?"

"Look mate, I was on all types of shit yeah? I rather stay vertical right now."

"Fuck all that. Get your shit together and take it to level 15 orange block ASAP. You're a Shadow Runner now."

"Wait a fuck," Vlocke replied startled.

Frisko gave him a curt explanation, "You got no squad anymore, and we need a man. You do the advanced jump calculations." And with that Frisko walked away. The guy in the line gave him a huge grin and a slap on the shoulder.

"Welcome to the team boss."

"One question," Vlocke said, "who the fuck are you and what the fuck is going on?"

"Well, I'm Chung, squad sniper and you, my friend, made quite the impression last night."

"With who?"

"Oh, fuck me." Vlocke dropped his duffel bag of whatever he had had after the refueling raid (which was really just Eve and half a drum of slugs and the rest of his uniform), he didn't know if he should be angry, shocked, happy, or all three, he just knew that this was some cosmic bullshit.

"Take a seat, jumpie." Talea said, a smirk on her face. She was already suited up with full kit even with the camo-mantelet and bandolier, her helmet resting on the desk in front of the holo-map.

"This gets crazier by the second." Vlocke muttered to himself and took a seat in a fold out chair and crossed his arms.

"Glad you could make it," Talea said getting the pleasantries out of the way, "you all know Vlocke, he's the sole of chalk G and former crew of the _Red Eye_."

There was some muttering here and there.

"Aye," She continued, "But the dead can wait while we got a frontier to win. Alright squad, on your feet, we got tops with the ops coming on in ten. Get those greens on, people."

The squad got down to business opening lockers and strapping on extra equipment. Vlocke found his locker at the end of the row and opened it. It was rusted on the inside and some of the old effects were still in the locker. It didn't matter to him, he just shoved the stuff inside that he didn't need and put on the rest. He was strapping on his knee pads, when Talea came over with her carbine in hand.

"Lucky for us, I found you." She grinned.

"Yeah, lucky." He said back.

"Better than the hand you played at stabscotch."

Vlocke unconsciously flexed his right hand, "Is that where you found me?"

"Me, no. That's where Frisko found you. Chung, saw you over at the bars later after you got into a fist fight with the grunts from 231st. You were luckier that time, Chung likes a good fight and joined in with you. Then Bartusky," she nodded to dark skinned girl in CQB gear, "She saw you later free running on walls while stimmed. I, found you at the end of the morning in the dropship you came here on passed out like a fool."

"So lemme get this straight, we didn't bang?" Vlocke knew it was stupid to ask but he had to know.

"Nope but only two kinds of people do what you did. Those who want to die, and those who want to forget, and I had to see which you were before I put you on."

"You bitch." Vlocke said impressed and couldn't hold back his grin. Talea gave him a playful slap across the face. He could see, he was outplayed and the Shadow Runners had done their homework on him.

"Okay, strap on and load up. Extra rounds are over in those bins." Talea walked down the lockers checking the rest of her team.

A few minutes later the team was assembled and ready in full gear, "Okay team, listen up, Bish and Sarah are gonna give you the lowdown."

The PA system crackled and came to life , "Listen up crew," Bish's voice reverberated around the ship, "The good news is we're still alive. The majority of our fleet survived the raid with enough fuel to run for another month. According to the tactical computer the operation was a success but we cannot continue to trade human lives for fuel. If anything, we need to recruit more people to our cause where ever we can find them. Sarah."

"Two hours ago we received this on the distress channel." Sarah said. She played the message they had found from earlier and then she continued, "The origin of this signal is from a sector that isn't populated. It's not on any charts. There is a chance that it could be an IMC trap that's why we're sending you in first. But if these guys are homesteaders and we help them out, they might join our cause. Good luck Pilots, signing off."

The PA went silent and Talea stood with her arms behind her back before she addressed the team. "We'll being going in dark and deep squad just the way we like it, Seventh. Chung, Frisko, Bartusky and I will deploy by Crow three klicks from the colony and set up an OP here at just outside the colony." A Holo-map had appeared of the colony and Talea pointed to a location on it. "If all seems vacant, the ground team will look for any surviving homesteaders and establish communication to the _Annapolis_ ," she smirked and chuckled, "but this is space, folks. I doubt this'll be a walk in the park. If we go up against IMC forces, Garrison and Vlocke will Titanfall in and back us up. From there on out, I want rounds to fly until the ground is covered in grey uniforms, got it?"

"Aye aye, Ma'am." The Shadow Runners replied.

"Good, let's board the bird."

"No prey, no pay!" Frisko called out receiving an uproarious cheer and a couple punches to the shoulder.

Grissom came over to Vlocke extending his hand, "You the add-on?"

"Yeah mate, that's me." Vlocke shook his hand.

"Great! Looks like we get to sit this one out for a bit but if I know Talea, she'll be pissed if we don't sit in our Titans until dawn. Come on, we can eat on the way."

They made their way through the _Annapolis_ to the Titan bay where racks of prepared Titans hung ready for refit and drop. The bay was huge broken up only by the conveyor belts several walk ways and service stations. Garrison lead the way along the catwalks following a red stripe along the floor to drop bay 12 where the seventh's Titans were housed.

"Looks like I missed out on a helluva night, according to Chung."

"Yeah, wish I could remember it."

Garrison laughed, "Probably for the best, you know? Talea's cold but she's the best. We hadn't lost anyone until that raid. Shit, we were all kinds of pissed about it. I guess that's when she picked you up. Just in time too." They passed through a door that slid open reveling a maintenance room. Inside was the maintenance crew working on an XO-16 trying to pry a piece of shrapnel out of it. Besides them was Sarah in her usual mood of getting shit done right. Sarah turned as she saw the two pilots enter.

"Ma'am, we're the two for drop from the Seventh on Lieutenant Talea's orders." Garrison said as he gave Sarah a salute.

"You're the two seat warmers huh? Alright, I'll have them racked up in a second. You two have your Titan configurations, right?"

"Right here, Ma'am." Garrison handed her the two data sticks.

"Could I get the _Red Eye_ on my Titan?" Vlocke asked.

Sarah collected the two sticks from Garrison before she answered Vlocke, "You were on the dropship Bish and I went in on, I remember. The _Red Eye_ was home for you too huh?"

"Well my mates liked it more than I did really but they ain't around anymore. It'd be something to remember them by."

The Militia Field Commander gave a slight nod, "I'll see what I can do. In the meantime I'll get someone on these schematics, should be ready in ten." She handed the two sticks off to a techie and went back to supervising the retrofit.

"Hey man," Garrison said to Vlocke, "I didn't know about your brick. That's tough."

"Thanks," Vlocke replied a little downbeat, "you're probably right, I should forget last night."

Garrison grinned, "Couldn't hurt."

* * *

The brightness settled as the three crows gently trimmed over the jungle canopy after jump. It was covered in a deep fog and as Talea looked out the Crow's portside window she caught glimpses of the sprawling green expanse. She rechecked her gun's safety and looked at her squad to see their status. Frisko was holding his LMG between his legs and swapping stories with Chung, who had his sniper faceplate dangling off one side of his helmet. Bartusky had her hands were folded together in prayer. Talea checked her gun again and then checked her sidearm. She got like this before a mission. The lieutenant was always anxious before a drop. Talea didn't know what to do with herself and so she tried to keep herself busy by checking her equipment over and over.

"Ten seconds!" The Crew Chief announced over the mike.

"Ten seconds!" Talea told her squad. The unit stood up from what they were doing and readied up.

Finally the Crow arrived at the DZ and the side hatch opened letting in the thick humid jungle air. Frisko did a little bounce as he readied himself to jump out of the dropship. "Never knew how much I missed this!" he exclaimed to the team.

"You were never that smart." Chung elbowed him.

If Frisko got the joke or not, it wasn't possible to see behind his assault mask as he leapt from the Crow and into the jungle below. Chung followed next and close behind him Bartusky jumped. Talea gave the Crow pilots a thumbs up and then she dropped off into the green jungle below.

Bartusky and Frisko were pulling back on their charge handles and clicking off their safeties as Talea hit the deck. Her feet sunk into the muddy ground from the drop all the way up to her knees. She was quickly pulled out by Frisko and Bartusky. Overhead the Crow pulled up into overwatch.

"This is Blackjack 4-1, Wildcard 3-1 is on the deck pulling into overwatch position."

"Copy, 4-1, this is 4-2 putting 3-2 on the deck over." Came the reply from the next dropship.

Talea clicked her safety off and checked on her squad, "Bartusky, Chung, Frisko, you ready to move?"

"Copy that." Frisko gave her a thumbs up.

"Yes Ma'am." Bartusky gave a nod.

"I'll dress when we get there." Chung said tossing away some flora he had in his hand.

"Alright, team let's take point and wait for the Grunts." They moved up to a ridge overlooking the clearing as the Grunts repelled in on zip lines. As the grunts wrapped up and left the clearing, Talea signaled Chung to be pointman with Frisko taking rearguard.

"Wildcard 3-1, this is Blackjack 4-3 returning to Dealer over."

"Copy, Blackjack over and out." Talea replied, "Ok, let's go." And she motioned for the three teams to get moving. The going was slow as the squads moved through the dense jungle. Talea and Bartusky navigated with their holo-map on their way to checkpoint outside the colony. They came to a large river and Chung had already set up part of a bridge on the other side and Bartusky and him jumped it to the other side completing the metallic rope bridge for the Grunts to get across. An hour later and the trek had been completed.

The three squads set up upon the hill overlooking the colony. As Talea came to the top of the ridge, Chung was already there putting foliage onto his armor. The squad sniper had rows of green leaves trailing down his back, with his comm Antenna sticking out over his shoulder. He saw her approaching and finished tucking the last branch into his kit.

"I'm all set, Lieutenant."

"Good, it looks all quiet now, but I want better details."

"Ma'am, there's nothing on Nav-Sat." Bartusky put in.

"Copy that," Talea responded, "Get it done Chung."

"Aye aye Ma'am." And the scout sniper activated his suit's cloak and snuck off towards the colony. Talea pulled out her binoculars and surveyed the scene in front of her. The colony was a collection of scavenged parts put together into crude but functional houses. From her vantage she could see long thick cables leading off into the fog. A wall that surrounded the outpost looked to be made of parts of a ship's ribs or something. Talea wasn't sure what exactly. This colony was so far out of the way of known space that, what else could they have used to make the buildings from? High amongst the colony was a building that looked like a town hall, there didn't appear to be anyone using the watch tower above it now but there could be an IMC sniper lying in wait. Far to the left, near the edge of the colony, appeared to be a power station. Not that it looked like the power was on anyways.

"Lieutenant," Chung's voice radioed in, "There doesn't look to be anyone here now. A lot of bodies though."

"Copy that," Talea confirmed, "3-2 move into the colony."

"You heard the Pilot," The Grunt Squad Leader said, "Move in!" The Grunts began to file into the village keeping their eyes peeled.

Chung's cloak wore off as he kneeled down by a body to examine it. There was blood seeping into the mud and several strange foot prints scattered all over the ground. The prints were about a foot long but forked near the end. They didn't look like any animal prints he was familiar with. Chung had never seen anything like it. He moved his attention from the prints to the body. The corpse was ridden with several small bullet wounds about pistol caliber and the volume of holes suggested to him an SMG. At least exit wounds was something that he understood. He pulled out his data-knife and slowly it ran under the body to check for booby traps. When he was satisfied, he rolled the body over. The man's face was wide in shock and covered in a thick layer of mud.

The sniper stood up as he heard the Grunts filing in towards him, "Hey, watch your step around those bodies. They look clean but check them for traps." Chung stuck the knife back into its scabbard.

"Right, you heard the Pilot, start checking those bodies." The Squad Leader ordered.

"Talea, uh this place looks clear, I think what ever happened here we missed it. But I found these strange tracks in the mud. I can't be sure but it looks like the IMC has already moved on." He radioed over.

"Understood, we're coming in."

Chung breathed a deep sigh of relief, _looks like this mission is going to be easy after all._ At the hilltop Chung could see Talea come down the hill with Frisko and Bartusky in tow, she made a motion off to her left and the other squad of Grunts took off in that direction. Chung returned his gaze to the Grunts checking the bodies for traps and hopefully a survivor. He held his Longbow in both hands and traced the height of the watch tower that stood in the center of the village. He looked back at Talea, who gave him a nod. _Go check it out_. Chung instinctively understood and began to wall run up the side of the building.

Inside the command room on the _Annapolis_ , Sarah and Bish stood overlooking the command holo-board watching the three teams progress. Something was nagging at Sarah and she overlooked board apprehensively, something was there and she just wasn't seeing it.

"Bish, do we have the full transmission?" She said impatiently.

"Yeah, I've just got all of it. Here it is." He played the other half of the message.

"Mayday, mayday! We are a small civilian colony on planet Troy. We are under attack from IMC forces and require immediate assistance. Please send help. Embedding coordinates."

"That message was four hours old," Bish looked at the board over his laptop and saw 3-1's progress, "Okay… first squad on the ground, they have eyes on the distress signal coordinates."

"What do you see 3-1? Anything by the tower?"

"Nothing," Chung replied, "The tower looks abandoned. We got dead colonists in the streets. No sign of any survivors."

"Got it." Sarah said still apprehensive, "Pilots, let's find out just what the hell happened here. Fan out through the village and meet up by the south gate. Be careful down there."

Talea confirmed the order, "First Squad, move up." She called out to her team. They were just about to move up when Chung's voice filled the radio.

"IMC!"

"What?" Talea spoke more unsure than surprised.

"Hey! I've got a live one here!" a grunt in front of Talea called out waving his hand. In the next moment a sleek metal humanoid flashed into view kicking the Grunt to the ground. Then, in a fast executed movement, the machine thrusted the Grunt's head into the nearby metal wall. For a moment, the team was unsure how to react. The robot released the dead Grunt's head from its grasp and turned to face the other humans in front of it.

"Take it out! Open fire!" Talea bellowed. Multiple guns opened fire as pilot and grunt shot at the single combat droid ripping it to tatters. Parts of wiring, bolts, and large chunks of metal scattered and littered the ground in all directions. "Cease fire." Talea ordered and the firing promptly stopped.

"What hell was that?!" Frisko exclaimed

"IMC coming in from the south!" Chung shouted cutting him off. Three IMC Goblins could be seen two of which had large racks underneath.

"This is Wildcard 3-2, We've made contact with the enemy," the Squad Leader yelled into his headset, "some new generation of automated combat troop! These things are everywhere!"

Appearing on the roof tops nearby nearly two dozen of the robots began to advance towards their position. The Grunts were beginning to panic and fall over as the robots began to increase in number. Talea gripped her carbine tightly and whispered something inaudible to herself. Frisko adjusted his grip on his spitfire and gave her a questioning glance.

"Ma'am?"

Talea and the squad were instinctively pulling backwards. The Lieutenant had never seen these things before and her instinct told her to run.

"Ma'am?!" Frisko shouted.

Talea shook her head. _No fear remember_? "Covering fire!" She yelled, letting loose rounds onto the robotic troops. Frisko began to yell and let his Spitfire LMG do what its name implied: spit fire.

"This is Blackjack, copy that, 3-2. Sending in additional dropships, ETA 30 seconds."

"Grissom," Talea took cover near the wall of the Blackwell Store, "Titanfall, now! This is no longer a search and rescue! I repeat, no longer a search and rescue. Kill 'em all!"

"That's our cue jumpie, ready for Titanfall?" Grissom asked.

Vlocke was already shutting his hatch and doing pre-drop procedures, "Oh hell yes."

"Standby for Titanfall," Sarah's voice filled the drop bay, "In five, four, three, two, one, mark."

The mechanical clamps released as the drop bay doors opened and the two Titan Pilots were rapidly falling at a dangerous speed. Vlocke, despite his usual reckless attitude could feel the Gs against his body threatening to push his entire skeleton out his ass. One second it was pitch black, the next the bright light and finally a crash into solid earth almost all in less time than it took to make a cup of coffee.

Grissom was cheering in the other Titan, "That was amazing! Ho-ly-shit!" he paused, "you still in one piece there jumpie?"

"Yeah, I'm here." Vlocke said aloud, _feels like my arse just got tenderize ya fucking git_.

"Titans on the ground, I repeat, Ace in the Hole has arrived." Grissom radioed, "Friendlies are inside two buildings surrounded by some metal bastards, let's get to work Vlocke."

"'bout time!" Vlocke acknowledged. He zoomed his sights for his XO-16 and sent rounds into the nearest batch of spectres. Spews of oil bursted out of the metal robots and pieces of their mechanisms flung into the air. Somehow it wasn't the same for Vlocke, who missed the sight of red mist.

"Don't shoot!" Came a voice over the radio followed by a loud boom as the top of the watch tower exploded. Suddenly something landed on top of Vlocke's Titan. A prompt came up on the Titan's HUD notifying him that Chung was aboard his hull. Then as fast he came, he leapt off again.

Talea helped Chung in through the window of the Blackwell store. Behind him several more the metal soldiers leapt into view and Vlocke gave one punch with his Titan's fist, leaving an impact crater and a crumpled mess behind. _He's performing well_. Talea made a mental note.

"Ma'am," Chung gasped for breath, the sniper sat against the wall, his rifle tucked into his armpit, "Once they saw our Titanfall, they dropped in some of their own, three of them, one with the 40mil took out the tower. Just barely made it." Just as Chung finished, a string of explosions went off as a rocket salvo lit up the town hall. The sound of careening metal scraping against falling metal made a sort of deep hallow howl followed by a wave of dust.

"Right," Talea thought for a second, "I want a perimeter now. Garrison, Vlocke form up on the power plant and roll up our left flank."

"Copy!" Garrison responded.

"3-3, advance to the Quickstop in front of us."

"Roger, Ma'am." The Squad Leader replied.

"Wildcard, this is Blackjack." The familiar sound of the Crow pilot cut in.

"Copy, Blackjack. Go ahead."

"Putting reinforcements on the deck, mark your position over."

"We are on the north side of the village at grid charlie-five."

"Understood, over." Blackjack replied.

Talea made her way to the back of the store with Chung in tow as they saw the Crows zip-lining troops onto the deck. This was going to get worse before it got better. If they couldn't push the IMC back quickly, they would soon get enveloped and cut down. She saw the building differently then. The walls began to feel tighter and the space of the room more stifling. She and her team were Pilots, meant for fast and high performance tactics. It wouldn't do to be pinned down inside a thin metal box. They needed room to maneuver and soon.

"Bish, any progress on tracking the remaining colonists?" Sarah inquired looking up from the increasingly grim situation on the ground.

"I'm picking up an incoming transmission but it's garbled. Give me some time to clean it up." The hacking guru went back to the furious strokes on his keyboard, pounding away at the keys in a staccato rhythm.

"What do you mean Bish?"

"It's old IMC coding tech but with new code I'm not familiar with. Whoever did this, was also using old jamming tech. They're having as much trouble getting to us as we are to them."

"That doesn't make sense Bish."

"I know it's crazy but the colonists here went really far out of their way to not be found. And right now, it's biting them in the ass."

"Alright," Sarah said impatiently, "just get it done, things are going poorly down there."

Bartusky pulled a tin can in through a window and it was immediately beset upon by Grunts, who took turns smashing its head in with the butts of their rifles. The amount of scrap inside and out of the Blackwell Store was beginning to pile up. Things were looking grim.

"This is all going QSF, Ma'am." Bartusky called over the sound of gun fire.

"No shit." Her C.O. replied.

"Hey, I've got something here." Chung's voice rang out.

Talea came over into the storage room and saw Chung next to a short-wave radio.

"What that ancient piece of shit?" Talea scoffed.

"Nah, this." He replied with a grin.

"Looks like… finally found our little corner of the universe…" the radio relayed a garbled transmission.

"Good work, Chung." Talea nodded approvingly to her squad sniper.

"We are not 'terrorists'," the radio continued, "We are not part of your damn war… We're falling back to…" the transmission flared.

"Shit," Chung cursed, "I didn't catch that."

"Me neither." Talea said, "Keep on it."

"Aye aye."

Talea radioed the _Annapolis_ their discovery, "Dealer, this is Wildcard 2-1, copy?"

"Copy, 2-1, this is Dealer." Sarah's voice came in on a video feed.

"We have a colonist transmission from the survivors. They've fallen back to another location unknown, over."

"Confirmed 2-1, we're tracking it too. What's your sitrep?"

"We're pinned down inside a building, could use assist." The gunfire upstairs was still droning on.

"Understood, remaining Titans are prepped for warp jump on your ready." Sarah stated but then added, "We're low on Titans, so that's the only one you're getting."

"Understood Dealer, Wildcard over and out." Talea cut communication with _Annapolis_ , "Team, do you copy all?"

"Hoo-ah!" came the return cry over the comms. Grissom released the ammo canister from his XO and let it fall to the ground as his Titan rotated another canister of ammunition into the gun. The IMC had them ambushed but the metal bastards were dwindling pretty quickly. He and the jumpie had seen to that.

"This is Blackjack, putting reinforcements on deck, over."

"Copy that, thanks Blackjack." Talea responded. Grissom could hear the anxiety in her voice. She was damn good CO and Garrison wasn't about to let her down now. He uncrouched from behind the building he was hiding behind trying to get a bead on where the enemy Titan had gone. The IMC team had been taking pot shots at him and Vlocke from behind this garage down the way.

"Vlocke," Grissom called out to his wingman, "You got eyes on?"

"No, the bastards." Came Vlocke's cocky voice.

"Alright, don't let them pin you. In these tight corners, they'll rip you right out."

"Don't need to tell me twice."

Overhead the sound of falling Titans signaled the arrival of the rest of the Squad's Titans. Something wasn't right and Grissom wasn't about to jump right into it. "Ma'am?"

"Aye." came Talea's voice.

"Something isn't right. The IMC Pilots have been holding back. They're in force but they haven't been engaging us directly."

"What," Came Vlocke's voice, "they've been all over us mate."

"He's right," Bartusky agreed with Grissom, "We were totally surrounded by those mechs but they held their forces back."

"What for?" Vlocke asked incredulously.

"Well," Grissom scanned the tops of the buildings, "I can't be positive but it seemed like a demonstration."

"What… like a test?" Talea wasn't clear on what Garrison was reaching at.

"Could have been." Grissom said, "Wait, Vlocke, on your six o'clock." On the roof tops a pilot was readying his charge rifle.

"Bastard!"

Grissom aimed his XO-16 at the enemy pilot when his console was alight with lock on warnings. Before he could react two rockets collided into his shields leaving his Titan vulnerable to permanent damage. As he returned to cover, he could see two titans moving onto his position, "I've got company!"

One of the Titans began to spray rounds over his head, chipping away at the building he was behind. He rotated the swivel head of his Atlas to check his chassis for any damage. There didn't appear to be any, though he saw several Grunts moving past him into the building in front of him.

"Give 'em hell, sir!" One of the Grunts shot him a thumbs up. Grissom nodded from inside the cockpit. His shields had recovered and his belt was still full. _Time for some payback._ Grissom's Atlas raised its massive frame from behind the pock marked structure and made an impressive display of firepower. Grissom fired his gun full "vapor" and let loose his entire pod of rockets sail across the village in a chaotic cascade. Just as the lock ons returned, Grissom ducked his titan back behind the building and strafe-boosted to change position. Now as they were distracted by his initial attack, he would hit them from another position. Keep them on their toes.

"Vlocke, what's your status?"

"… I'm good." Came the strained reply.

"Bartusky, do you see the two Titans on my flank. They're about to pin me down here."

"I'm on 'em." Bartusky replied enthusiastically. A series of missiles and tracer rounds flew by Garrison's viewing screen as Bartusky's Titan came into view. "Come on," She coaxed him, "Let's bury these 'grey' bastards."

"Right behind ya." Grissom stood up and began scoring hits against the top viewport of the nearest Atlas Titan. The Titan returned fire with its 40mm cannon striking back at Garrison's Titan. Each successive burst rapidly burnt out his shield and reflexively Garrison popped his electric smoke and strafed into cover behind a building. The enemy Titan was still popping rounds into the building trying to destroy it to get to Garrison's vulnerable Titan. After a few seconds the gunfire stopped and Grissom again pulled from cover to sight on the enemy Titan. To his surprise, Bartusky was already in close range and throwing her fist into the enemy Titan. But the combination of the two enemy Titan's quickly brought down her shield and her Titan entered it's doom state.

"Get ready to catch me Grissom." She said quickly before she set off the nuclear reactor of her titan.

"Wait!" Grissom called back but it was too late. Bartusky's Titan began to emit a bright blue light and she quickly ejected from the titan followed by a massive explosion. She was not alone, Grissom saw that the enemy pilot had ejected too. "Shit! Bartuksy look out." Grissom aimed his XO skyward attempting to shoot the enemy pilot out of the sky. However, the trajectory was too fast for him and his round went wide over the pilot trailing behind him as he fell. Bartusky and him were both firing rounds at each other in mid-air. Just before the she hit the ground Grissom wheeled his Titan under her as she boosted hard hitting his Titan with a small thud.

"Ow, thanks…" She said safely aboard.

"You okay?" Grissom asked.

"Yeah, he just clipped me."

"Hurry up and get in here," Grissom popped the top hatch of his Titan, "I'm gonna need help with the infantry. You still got your Mag Launcher?"

"Right here." She pulled it off her back and braced herself in Garrison's titan.

"Good, it should tear those metal bastards right up."

"Sarah," Bish declared triumphantly, "I've pinpointed the source of the Transmission! Channel's open."

 _It's about damn time_. The Field Commander quickly hit the transmit key, "Whoever's on this channel, Identify yourself!"

"Never mind who this is! They were tracking you and they found us instead. Damn Miltia…" The man over the comm yelled, "We didn't want any part of your war so you brought it to our damn doorstep?! Those were civilians being slaughtered!"

"We came to answer your distress signal! I repeat, identify yourself!" Sarah demanded.

"This is James MacAllan, formerly of the IMC! You wanna help? You come and get me. I have a lot of survivors here that need an evac."

"Hold on- I'm getting IMC Command on this frequency." Bish interrupted.

"You should have stayed gone, MacAllan." The IMC Commander said seething.

"Graves," MacAllan said hate in his voice, "You're still on the wrong side, aren't you?"

"We're soldiers, Mac. You're dreaming if you think you can sit it out." Graves replied.

"I'm awake now, you son of a bitch." The transmission went dead.

The command room was silent for a moment as the exchange finished and everyone puzzled over what they had gotten themselves into. Finally, Bish spoke up breaking the short silence.

"Sarah, I got a positive ID, but it doesn't make any sense… this guy fell off the radar 15 years ago."

"Spit it out, Bish, we're running outta time."

"MacAllan, he was already a legend when I was just a rookie. He's been fighting since the Titan Wars and even in the early years of the Uprising."

"So what?"

"He could be the kind of asset we're looking for."

"Just because he used to be a defanged viper, doesn't make him any less dangerous Cheng."

Bish let her anger wash over him, he knew her score with the IMC but he knew a good opportunity when he saw one and he wasn't about to back down now, "True, but if he's on our side. He's all the more dangerous to them."

"We'll talk about this later, for now let's just get our pilots out of there."

"Fine, I'm sending the dropship in to get them." Bish closed his laptop and got up from his seat.

"Where are you going?" Sarah demanded.

"Someone's gonna have to be a good will ambassador to those colonists." Bish said exiting the command room.

 _Damn him._ Sarah tightened her fist on the command board.

The colony was ablaze. What was left were hallowed out buildings and burning wrecks dotted the landscape. Talea was marshalling her squad by the PZ waiting for the dropship to arrive. So far, Bartusky had lost her Titan and Vlocke's was burning. Despite that, her team had done fairly well against the IMC ambush. Now they had to hold off the IMC long enough to escape back to orbit and get off this QSF terra. They just had to hold for a minute but that felt like a lifetime.

Talea checked her XO chaingun and then asked for the status of her squad.

"We're good here, Ma'am." Grissom responded.

"Zeke'll hold together." Vlocke reported.

"Still here." Chung said from within one of the few still standing buildings.

"Cleaning up a squad of Greys." Frisko said firing the last of his Quad Rocket before putting in a new pod.

"Alright, Squad, we have 50 seconds to hold the IMC at bay until the dropship arrives and we bail on this place. Aye?"

"Aye!" They responded.

"Shit, Stryder on the left!" Vlocke shouted. The Stryder Titan moved quickly popping electric smoke as it burst forth firing rockets quickly. It hit a building and fired off a single rocket towards Talea. Talea quickly moved before the cluster bomb could do much damage. Then right behind it, an Ogre Titan with a 40mm began hammering her.

"Get this asshole off me Vlocke."

"Aye Ma'am, I'm trying." Vlocke was hitting the Ogre with his chaingun but the Ogre had quickly activated its overshield making damaging it more difficult.

"Frisko, where's your quad at?"

"Coming." But it was too late. With no cover to move to in the open field, Talea's Atlas quickly was overwhelmed and she had to eject.

"Ah bollocks!" Vlocke exclaimed, "fuck these guys. Grissom, the Stryder's coming toward you now!"

Bartusky swung around, "I see it." She popped mag rounds towards the Stryder which dodged a few of the grenade rounds.

"Frisko, come to me, we'll bring down the landing pad. Block off our right flank." Grissom called out.

"That's crazy, I love it." Frisko said.

"That is crazy," Bartusky yelled from the hatch, "There's no way we have enough firepower."

"He can do it." Grissom replied, "Just cover him. We'll trap that Stryder on our side of the colony."

Grissom swung his Atlas around and began to pepper the Stryder with his XO. It was fast and was easily circling around them scoring hits against his Titan's shield. Grissom was struggling to even the hit the speedy Titan. Then just as fast as it had came the Titan was gone. Grissom frantically searched his screen for any signs of the Titan.

"Where'd he go?" Grissom panicked.

"I couldn't see it was moving too fast." She yelled back.

"Frisko, what's the status of that tower?"

"Uh, give me a second…" Frisko launched another barrage of his Quad Rocket at the base. With the final blast, the towering landing pad lurched and fell atop the nearby grainery pushing up a cloud of billowing dust, "Oh shit that was a work of-"

Frisko's cockpit rocked and his screen fizzed as his Titan was rocked by several impacts. A moment later, his whole cockpit rocked forward as a Titan's fist smashed into the back of him. It was too late though for the enemy Stryder. It was trapped between Him and Grissom. With nowhere to run the pilot had decided to focus fire and take Frisko down with him. _Nothin' doin'_. Recovering from the impact, Frisko wheeled the his Titan _Jessabelle_ around alarmingly fast for a slow Ogre and fired off his last Quad into the Stryder. The maneuver was too unwieldy for the heavy Ogre and the Titan crashed down upon its side. Luckily, not the side with his ordanance and he let loose his whole pod of rockets in a dazzling but chaotic display.

"Jus' ain't my day." As Frisko watched most of his rockets fall wide of the target.

"Frisko!" Grissom's voice called despretely over the radio, "Get up damnit!"

The Enemy Titan wasted no time in taking advantage of Frisko's predicament and rushed forward to deliver a coup d'grace. The arm raised ready to rip Frisko out his metal case. With his Quad stuck fast under his chasis, Frisko had only one hope and he was glad to see that the enemy Pilot was right handed.

Just before the Pilot could deliver the killing blow, _Jessabelle_ launched her fist directly at the Stryder's grappling it. The Orge's hand easily held the delicate Stryder's with ease and after a moment crushed it like a grape. Frisko still holding onto the Stryder's broken limb snapped the forearm of the Titan off sending it flying. The wheels of the Stryder's feet slipped some as the balance changed but only for a second as the pilot regained control. And just like when he was losing a fight a school, Frisko put _Jessabelle's_ arm in front of the Cockpit to protect himself. He still had hull integrity but his shields had failed. He had delayed the Enemy for a moment but any good pilot could easily switch to the other Titan's hand.

The Stryder switched hands.

Frisko braced for the inevitable. He kissed his fingers and touched them to the top of his Titan, "Good knowing you girl."

"Not yet it's not!" Grissom collided into the Stryder knocking it forward and shoving his XO-16 right into its backside. Though surprised, the enemy Titan reacted quickly, popping its electric smoke and quickly firing into his Titan. However, between Bartusky and him, the IMC bastard didn't stand a chance. The pilot ejected and quickly cloaked out of sight.

"Alright, Pilots, the dropships here, get on it!" Bish announced over their comms.

Grissom extended out his Titan's hand towards Frisko's, "Time to go man."

"Yeah…" Frisko groaned, "I think that's enough for one day."

Talea stood on the roof as Chung climbed into the Crow. The sniper pulled up next to Vlocke inside the bird as they watched Grissom carrying Bartusky and Frisko on his Titan. _Zeke_ and Chung's Titan: _Leonidas_ stood watch over the pickup zone. The two Titan's had taken some damage, _Zeke_ especially so, as flames licked off of the green Atlas. The rest of the squad jumped into the Crow, weary from the fight that had so narrowly taken their lives several times. The Pilot took off from the hot zone pulling them further from the crumbling colony. But they weren't warping into the space…

Bish came down the steps leading from the cockpit. The crew turned towards him expecting congratulations and job well done or welcome back. Instead, Bish announced to them, "Team, it's not over yet, we've got another job to do."

* * *

Hey guys, hope you've enjoyed so far. Sorry about this one coming in so late but trying to make sure both stories sync up takes a lot of effort.

Some technical jargon; DZ is Drop Zone. QSF is Quite Seriously Fucked. Chalk is termed used for an area of which a squad operates. I think those were the big ones. Any ways let me know what you think, I'd love feed back!


	4. Chapter 2B: Peace and Order By Force

Unknown System

Planet Troy

March 8th, 0413h

The fog lay thick that morning as Woodman awoke in his house. It was freezing and already his nose was running and his body shivered. He groggily slipped out of bed and yelped in surprise on the cold metal floor.

"God damnit," he muttered. The scruffy colonist made a quick tip-toed dash to the wood stove and impatiently started to light it. After a few strikes and many more swears, the tinder took and Woodman quickly headed back to the bed. He lay in the sheets, his teeth chattering. Once the room heated up, he would begin his day of hunting by the river near the farm. There was this type of eel-thing that would wrap itself in the tubing and those also had to be removed if the colony was going to get any power. They had come to calling the things "bui" but Albert only ever thought of them as a nuisance. You had to be careful with the buies, they had a large mouth of sharp wiry teeth that slipped beneath the skin and had to be slowly pulled out.

Woodman fell asleep again underneath the animal fur blankets again as it got warm. It was still dark out and at dawn, he was taking Charlie's son out with him to practice on the G2A4. Old Samantha had outlasted a lot of the other guns from the wreck. It was due to Albert's skills as a marksman back when he was a part of IMC. Most of the firearms were rarely used and the only gun that got any serious action was the railgun used to ward off flyers that would occasionally grace the colony in flocks. One second you were pulling up cabbage and the other second you were sixty feet off the ground. Planet Troy wasn't exactly the most inviting place.

When he awoke again while it was still dark out but the room was warm and so Albert once again left the warmth of his bed to ready his breakfast. The gas stove made from different ship parts flittered to life. Using a sturdy but crude looking pan, Albert cracked a large egg open that was about the size of his fist and plopped it onto the pan. He sat there for a few moments; somewhere between sleepy and awake. His eyes fixated in a trance at the yellow-gold egg sizzling in the pan.

 _Klung! Klung!_

Woodman awoke from his trance and scratched his head. _Must be Charlie's kid._ Turning from the stove, Albert made his way down some stairs and to his front door. He heaved the turning wheel on the door, of what used to be an air hatch, and there was a freckled dirty haired boy with a huge grin on his face.

"Howdy, Mr. Woodman."

"You're early." Albert grunted.

The kid shrugged nonchalantly, "The best time for fishing is early and my dad likes to be up before the bugle call," the kid smiled a big smile that reveled all of his teeth. He was missing a few, Albert noticed.

"Yeah, that sounds like your old man," He replied grinning himself. Charlie hadn't changed much in 15 years.

"So, can we do it now, Mr. Woodman," the boy was practically jumping up and down in absolute excitement.

"Jesus, hold on Russ, I got eggs on the pan. Let's eat first and let a man stretch his legs before we go."

"Yes, Mr. Woodman."

"Call me Al, a boy old enough to shoot can call another man by his first name." Albert drawled.

"But your first name is Albert." Russ corrected him.

"Al is just fine, it's for friends to use." Albert walked up the stairs back to his eggs. Russ stood for a second processing Albert's words before his face suddenly beamed brighter than a spotlight. The boy ran after him and passed him on the stairs, "whoa now, where's the fire?"

"Don't worry, I'll get the eggs for you!"

Russ was just tall enough that he had to stand on his tip toes to see above the pan as he poked the eggs with a wooden spoon. Albert just shook his head, _Kids these days. Ah shit, does that mean I'm getting old?_ He sat down in his chair and his back ached. Probably just his bed, the leaves never sat right, probably should've gone with a hammock.

"Mr. Woods- I mean Al, uh, the eggs…"

"They're fine, pull 'em off. No wait, turn the burner off first. There ya go! Set it down right here. Now that smells good, who knew right?" Albert applied some ground pepper to his eggs. It was from a local plant that tasted a lot like pepper but with a spicier flavor. Supposedly there were no side effects. Russ just vacuumed it up without any additives. Albert chuckled softly and continued to pick at his eggs. Dawn was just beginning to poke beyond the trees as the soft darkness turned to a deep shade of blue. Albert rubbed some sleep from his eyes, still trying to wake from his sleep. He needed some caf.

"Boy," Albert gave a nod, "put some caf on, would ya?"

Russ nodded and pushed himself off the chair and to the caf machine. The boy opened the machine inspecting it for the caf leaves, "Uh, Mr. Woodsman, I don't see any leaves."

"Shoot!" when he really meant to say was shit but Charlie would hang him from the Odyssey for swearing in front of his boy.

"Do you have any spare?" Russ inquired.

"No, don't worry about it, just give me some booze from the fridge."

"This early?"

"Don't be judgin' me boy," Albert gave him a sharp look, "or I'll have you address me by rank."

Russ' face fell, "Yes, Sir."

Albert quickly jumped up from his chair, "I was only kiddin' son," Albert ruffled Russ' hair playfully.

"Stop it!" Russ cried pulling out from under Albert's hand and trying to part his hair back, frowning.

Albert chuckled and smiled, "What too old for that now?"

"Noo…" Russ turned his head blushing.

"Oh ho, I see," Albert chuckled a little deeply, "who's the special lady?"

"She's not old, shes a girl!" Russ blurted before he stopped himself.

"I see." Giving the kid a wink.

"Can we go already?" Russ whined.

"Sure," Woodman chuckled some more reaching into the fridge to pull out the bottle of booze. He could feel Russ staring at him sorely. Albert lifted the bottle up to his lips in full view of Russ defiantly before putting it back into the fridge. "Tell ya what, you don't tell your dad you saw me do that and I won't spoil your secret."

Russ sighed deeply, "Fine."

"Alright, you have a deal. Now let me get dressed."

About half an hour later they were walking amongst the jungle trees and forest headed towards one of Troy's most recognizable features the tall etched cliffs. It was flyer territory but Albert wasn't going to be young forever and Russ had to learn how to shoot on one of the last working guns in the settlement. Woodman was sure MacAllan's sidearm still worked and maybe a couple 101-Cs but that was about it. Other than game, there was no real need for guns here. So off they went to the cliffs to pouch some eggs. Fishing could wait another day, not like anything drastic was going to happen.

On their way, they passed the hydro turbine on the damn. It wasn't impressively big but their ingenuity made it work and it also acted as a bridge for the Russ and him to cross. Russ hurried ahead and ran onto the bridge, his glee taking over as he leaned over the side to watch the turbines work.

"Hey Al!"

"Yeah?"

"I think there's a bui stuck in the turbine!"

"Oh yeah, what's left of him?"

"No, he's whole but wrapped."

Albert caught up to the kid and looked in for himself. Sure enough, there was an eel wrapped around the central spoke. Woodman sighed as he turned for the lock valve. He then unslung the rifle and held it out for Russ to hold.

"Do not shoot, do not point, do not drop. Just hold." Albert commanded him before hopping over the rail.

"Yes, sir." Russ obeyed.

Albert lowered himself on the cross support and made sure he was balanced before letting go. Slowly, he laid down on the beam and reached for his survival knife. He hoped the thing drowned. He did not look forward to pulling teeth out of his arm or losing his knife. Albert gave the eel a poke with his knife. It squirmed and the head reeled out of the water with a loud hiss. The bui was pinned under its own length like a great knot. _Great_ , Albert sighed, _no way this is getting done easy._

"Alright," he looked up a Russ, "This isn't going to be easy. I'd fish him out but we don't have the time today to do it. I'll radio Lin when we get back and come back out later to deal with it."

"Okay," Russ said.

Albert hauled himself back up and onto the bridge. Brushing himself off and reacquiring the rifle from Russ they set back out for practice and eggs. As they set off down the trail, rays of light were beginning to pierce the tops of the trees. They'd have to hurry no if they were going to get the eggs before the flyers woke up. The two of them walked mostly in silence for a few minutes before Russ spoke.

"Mr. Al?"

"Yeah Russ?" Woodman looked down at the kid next to him.

"Are these dragon eggs?"

Albert chuckled, "What makes you say that?"

"Well dragons fly and look like reptiles, and flyers look like reptiles too, so are they dragons?"

"I thought dragons were from medieval times?"

"They were but maybe they came from this planet to ours?"

That gave him a laugh, "Space dragons?"

"You don't know, they could breath in space!"

"I don't think so, not any air in space."

"Oh…" Russ fell silent in contemplation.

They reached the side of the cliff face. Massive vines hung from above with long wide leaves that blew lazily in the breeze. The deep black rock underneath them was smooth and porous. It was those holes that the two would have to climb to get to the nests. It wasn't too hard for him; he just hoped that Russ was up to the task.

"Ready?"

"Yes, sir." Russ replied.

Finding his footing, Albert began to make the climb up the cliff with Russ following in his footsteps. The climb was easy and they went landing to landing, resting for a bit here and there until they reached the plateau of the large column of land. The wind had picked up but not too bad, the afternoon would be worse. Woodman unslung his rifle and made sure it was tight against his shoulder.

"Follow me, Russ." Albert whispered putting a finger to his mouth.

The two came upon an edge and slowly peaked around it. The flyers were still in their nests sleeping. There were perhaps dozens of the things atop large dirt mounds with sticks protruding. The haphazard fashion was misleading for how smart flyers were but Woodman had learned a thing or two hunting in his time. Flyers were diving predators that would pluck their prey out of the sky or air but in their nests, they were clumsy beasts.

Producing a rock from his pack, he tossed it at the nearest flyer. The beast squawked in a funny fashion and twisted its neck around looking for the source of the disturbance. Albert gave Russ a rock and nodded over to the flyer. Russ gave him a look of uncertainty but then threw the rock with all his strength. The flyer annoyed with this pattern flew off to another perch away from pelting rocks.

"And that's it." Albert said.

"That's it?" Russ said incredulously.

"Those are your space dragons."

"But they're so dumb!" Russ couldn't hide his disappointment.

Albert chuckled, "Don't expect too much kid, they're just giant birds."

"If they're so easy, why do we need the gun?" Russ asked.

"Well kid," Albert walked over to the nest and shoved his whole arm in, groping around for an egg to pull out. The flyer made a concerned squawk and began to fidget on its new perch. Albert casually pulled out his arm and picked up his rifle that was resting against the nest and gave the large reptilian bird a shot in face. It reared in pain and took off into the sky shrieking, "That's why."

An hour later the two were walking back to the bridge over the turbine with a sack full of large eggs. Russ had the gun over his shoulder and carried it around proudly. The gun was almost too big for him but the kid didn't care. They were chatting back and forth and Albert was telling him one of the stories he had back in the IMC.

"… and then Hogan says, "wait, what do we do now?" and MacAllan replies, "Shit!", the whole team just cracked up. Ya know because it was an explanation and an order."

"I don't get it," Russ replied, "Sorry, Al."

"Ah, it's okay kid, forget it. Oh, don't tell your dad I told you that story though."

"I won't."

"Hey, you did good shooting today."

"But I missed one," Russ began to say.

"It don't matter much, it flew off anyhow. And look how many eggs it had, worked out pretty well for us." Albert gave the kid a smile. They reached the bridge and something occurred to Albert that something wasn't right.

"Hey, the turbine's back on!"

"Yeah…" Albert replied slowly, Lin shouldn't have known about the jam until they had got back. The two walked over to the spinning turbine. It was perfectly fine, no bui or anything. _That's strange, Lin must've fixed it_. He stared into the turbine trying to work out why it was running. It shouldn't bother him but for some reason, the fact that it was working worried him. Then he saw it. Scratch marks. Long thin slices along the metal with small traces of purple ichor. Someone had waded in the water and cut the eel out. It was safer to do it with a pole-cutter then let those things bite you. It might not have been Lin then. Whoever did it was in a hurry. Woodman checked his mind, trying to remember what the turbine was used for. It was general purpose stuff mostly, nothing that needed to be rushed back into service.

"Al…" Russ' voice was low almost worried.

"Hm?" Albert raised his head from the turbine and looked over to Russ. The kid was pointing off into the distance towards a tower of smoke.

"Is- Isn't that the colony?" the boy stammered.

 _Distance to the first tree is a hundred yards, followed by roughly 200 more_ , Albert did the process of distance in his head like any sniper had been trained and he put the tower of smoke roughly where the fields were, "Looks like it."

"We should go back and help!" Russ said.

"Yeah, let's head back," Woodman agrees, and they took off at a quick pace down the dusty path to the colony. The smell of smoke hung in the air. _The wind direction changed about twenty minutes ago._ Albert made a mental note to himself as he and Russ continue along. _Something's not right_.

They reach the top of the embankment just outside the fields and Albert stiffly grabbed Russ by the arm. "Hey, ouch! That hurts Mr. Woodman!"

"Shh," Albert pulls him back gently but firmly behind him, "Grab the rifle, boy. There's something moving in the fields and it ain't natural."

Russ lowered the rifle off his shoulder and with both hands gave it to Albert. Woodman took the rifle in his hands and used the scope to survey the terrain. In the wheat field before him, he could see several metal bodies moving. They almost seemed bird like in appearance. Albert gave each robot a cursory glance through scoop; keeping track of each one he saw. Eleven in all. _There's too many to shoot and I'd bet my life those tin cans come from the IMC._ The hydro-farmer muttered a curse.

"What's the matter, Mr. Al." Russ whispered.

"It's the IMC, boy." He replied.

Russ saw the patch peeling off of Albert's shoulder and connected the dots, "So we're saved?" the excitement was clear in his voice.

"What?" Albert shot back but before he could stop Russ, the kid stood up and began waving his hands and shouting, "The hell are you doing!?" Albert bellowed practically ripping the kids arm off trying to pull him down.

"Ow!" Russ whined.

"Get out of here Russ, you run and don't stop 'til you get back to my house. Go!" Albert ordered.

"But!"

"Gooo!" Woodman snarled.

Russ took off running. Albert secured his wide brimmed cover and began moving around the left side of the embankment attempting to flank the robots in the field below. He doubted he'd have a chance to defeat all of them but he could distract them long enough for Russ to get away and maybe radio for help. He should have told the kid to do that but it was too late now. Now, he would have to draw them away for as long as he could. The former sniper now turned hydro-farmer began to push himself as fast as he could. He aimed his rifle skyward and fired off a round.

 _Crack!_ The round echoes through the air like thunder. The robots moved; their reactions quick and precise. Each one moving like a macabre attempt at being human. They began to spread out like predators trying to encircle him. Albert could see them clearly in the fields as they broke the stalks. The shot seemed to have worked and all eleven seem to be coming towards him.

 _Crack!_ It's a miss but he doesn't have to hit them for his plan to work. He felt clumsy, out of shape. Albert hasn't had to maneuver in a combat scenario in 15 years. His boot soles were worn and he could feel his feet ache. His bad knee and back began to throb with a dull ache. But he has to push himself. He has to so Russ can get away. The scope slides up to his eye in a precise movement and he squeezes the trigger…

 _Crack!_ His round hits the robot squarely, momentarily causing it to flinch but it still presses forward. He's almost run out of high ground to fire at them with. So he slings the rifle and takes off down the other side sliding on his butt to make time. The underbrush here is thick and slow going. He has to maneuver it carefully. But if it's tough for him, maybe it'll be tough for the IMC robots coming after him. Albert maneuvers the terrain as best he can but he gets snagged on a 'wait a minute' vine.

 _Crack!_ Albert breaks the vine as it loudly snaps and falls to the jungle floor. His mind racing for the path of least resistance in the green cover that surrounds him. He could hide but what good would that do? His breath is so loud, he can't control it anymore. He has no jump pack to vertically maneuver the environment. He can only run from his pursuers. His situation is quickly becoming dire. Albert finally makes his way through the undergrowth and light pierces his eyes, he squints to adjust to the light despite the fact he had a hat on earlier. He feels the top of his head and feels only his sweaty hair. _I must have lost it in the brush._ Albert is only able to consider this for a second before something that feels like an arm wraps around his neck. He can't move and it's choking him whatever it is.

 _Crack!_ The pistol grip of Grendel's pistol connects with the terrorist's head and the man falls to the ground. The sniper holsters the pistol as the eleven Spectre units catch up with him. One of the units makes a mechanical whir noise and the rest of the shark faced units return to their original positions.

"This is Warhound-One-Four," Grendel updates the team, "captured one Militia terrorist attempting to flee on foot, copy?"

"This is Tac Six," Blisk replied, "Copy that. Bring the prisoner back here for interrogation."

"Copy, Tac Six. Warhound-One-Four out." With one hand, Grendel, grabbed the collar of the suspected militiaman's shirt and began dragging him like a hunter drags a carcass.

As Grendel entered the colony, his squad mates were casually standing around talking with each other or scanning the perimeter. There were several Spectres about the colony some ready for action, others were holding onto prisoners. In a field just outside the colony's walls was Blisk with a row of prisoners. He passed Ramirez and Winters overhearing a snatch of their conversation.

"…would have won that ice cream if you hadn't cheated."

"Not my fault that you can't concentrate…"

 _Ice cream? Pathetic_.

Blisk understood results. That was why he was put in charge of the team. Ramirez was team leader but that last op was a disaster. They needed to be restructured. They needed to be better. They had to be the best. He had to be at his best.

Grendel dropped the fugitive in front of Blisk, who looked at the man arching an eyebrow, "What? Didn't feel like carrying him?"

"He had this rifle with him." Grendel tossed it over to blisk, who caught it with one hand and looked over the worn rifle.

"This is ancient."

"It's an older model special forces rifle made for civilian use back in the '30s adopted by the IMC back when the conflict first started. He's former military and company man."

"Tell all that from his rifle?" Blisk said amused.

"Mostly. Also his uniform, this patch came off." Grendel revealed the patch from one of his pockets showing a worn IMC logo.

"Fuckin' traitors," Blisk spat, "Forget the interrogation. You, you! String him up!" He made a motion of tightening a noose with his hands. Two Spectres came forward and picked up the man lying on the ground. A section of cord was provided and one of the robots leapt up into a tree to secure one end while the other quickly wrapped the other end around the prisoner.

Suddenly the man came to and began wriggling and kicking his feet and groping at the Spectres with his hands. It was to no avail as the two robots mechanically pulled him into the air; his feet dangling just inches off the ground. The man's face was turning blue and Grendel watched impassively. His expression was cold beneath his mask.

"Stop!" A familiar voice cried out. Grendel turned to see Mayumi pushing aside a couple of the Spectres towards Blisk. "You can't do this!"

"Stand down, Six. This is NOT your concern."

"He's a prisoner of war!" Her voice almost a scream.

"War?!" Blisk looked like he was about to either laugh in her face or discipline her, "He, is ex-IMC. A traitor. And under chapter 17, article 12, section j, his punishment is death."

"That was repealed! He can't be executed!" her voice reaching a fever pitch.

Blisk chuckled and folded his arms, "Are you questioning my orders?"

Mayumi hesitated before drawing into a crisp salute and left without being dismissed.

Blisk called after her his tone clearly mocking, "Article 12 was repealed but it had a statue that still effective until March 10th of this year. So unless, that man has got two days of air in him!"

Grendel could see the scowl and furrowed brow Mayumi had as she marched away almost letting the next word slip her mouth but it was clear she was going to call Blisk a bastard.

"We're done here." Blisk commanded turning back to the row of prisoners still lined up. He walked a couple paces and addressed everyone in the field, "Alright, let's pack it up, there's no Militia here. Back to the Goblin."

The Pilots climbed in, Mayumi was still fuming but Ramirez and Winters were still busy talking about the competition they had earlier to even notice. Grendel did, and Mayumi gave him a look, like he should say something. _I did. I told you before to forget about it. Forget what you saw_. _You can't be soft, you have to be the best._

As the Goblin began to pick up speed from the field, the spectres began to open fire on the colonists. Mayumi shut her eyes tight and turned away from the open side of the dropship.

"Sir, we haven't found any Militia, Just a handful of civilians!" Blisk reported to Graves.

"Copy that, keep looking." Graves replied back.

"But I like the way these Spectres kill, eh!" He gave Mayumi a grin, pulling out his knife to play with it in his fingers, "Next-gen automated infantry's the future, but taking out a bunch of civilians is hardly a test." And Blisk's grin turned to a smirk.

"Warhound Actual! It looks like Militia forces! They're deploying at the north end of the village."

"Now that's a real threat." Blisk said excitedly jumping up in his seat, "Deploy three more racks of Spectres. We'll get a good demonstration of their combat prowess now."

"Sir, are you putting us into the fight?" Ramirez piped up eagerly.

Blisk waited a moment as radio chatter filled the radio.

 _Get those other spectres online, we've got militia pilots moving in from the east._

 _Charlie Squad is still rounding up colonists._

 _Well tell those metal bastards to wrap it up, we've got bigger fish to fry._

 _Copy that._

"Negative. This will be a good test of our new Spectres. Let's see how they deal with them first." Blisk replied and returned to looking out the window of the Goblin.

Ramirez seemed to be disappointed but remained stoic underneath his helmet. Winters next to him, raised her hemlock rifle onto her lap as the Goblin neared the edge of the colony. As Blisk ordered, three more racks of spectres were being deployed near the drop zone towed in on cables attached to Phantom gunships. The droids flickered to life and began to walk off the suspended platform. Grendel kicked off first and landed deftly on the earth. Followed by herself and she had to hold an arm in front of her face to guard against the dust kicked up by the engines. In front of her were more spectres casually lifting civilians and executing them. There was no hate or remorse in what they did. It was a task, a function to be carried out. How could these possibly replace humans on the battlefield?

How could you wage war without feeling?

Ramirez and Winters walked by her, the former resting his hand on her shoulders, "Hey, you're our new Five now. It's not an ideal promotion but when this op is over, we'll put you into advanced situation training and you'll take over Mercer's spot as CC."

"You want me on crowd control?" Mayumi said quietly, she was actually surprised.

"We need a number thinner and you fit the bill. Let's go." Ramirez gave her a pat on the shoulder and boosted over the crude fence.

"You might be Five now," Blisk said over the radio, "But you're still under my command. You have to prove to me that you can earn it."

 _Fucking asshole._

Mayumi boosted herself past the fence and took a position inside of a garage's second story. The view from the window gave her a good vantage point of the colony. She was just in time to see the three racks leaping into the Militia. Gunfire soon blazed up from the northern side of the colony.

 _Warhound Actual, spectres making good progress. Several Militia KIA._

 _Charlie is flanking from the west. Get Bravo up on the east, they're almost pinned._

 _That's it, we've got them split. Move in and finish 'em off._

At least, it would be over quick. Mayumi would be glad to be away from the slaughter as soon as possible. She didn't come from the Core to the Frontier to be a part of killing innocents on some backwater planet. _Then why did you?_ A voice inside her asked. _Why join the IMC at all, you knew what the Frontier was like even from Tau Ceti._ It was true, she conceded to herself. Though the IMC had always branded them as outlaws and terrorists, these… these were homesteaders on an unknown backwater. How does this protect the Frontier?

"Vice Admiral Graves," Blisk's voice piped up over the comms, "The Militia have accessed the distress beacon logs and are attempting to locate the remaining terrorists."

"Blisk you said this camp was wiped out… find out where the rest of them went." Graves ordered.

Ramirez saw the Militia Crows roping in more troops and on top of that, they were dropping in Titans. Around the Militia's holdouts were piles of dead Spectres. They had to press their advantage while they still could.

"Team, this is One, do you copy?" Each one of the team replied affirmative, "Good, we've got their pilots cornered for now, if we don't strike quick we'll lose our chance to end this here and now. Two, Three and I will drop in our titans now and push up with the remainder of 2nd mechanized. Use your Titans to keep them pinned, while the infantry mops up house to house."

"What about me, sir?" Mayumi asked.

"Five, you'll provide support on the ground, hit 'em in their weak spots." Ramirez hefted his Charge Rifle. They had quashed the Militia in their last engagement and they had to do it again or else this war would keep on going for another year. Almost half of their fleet was destroyed at planet Victor, whatever was left of it was in this system.

Somewhere.

The Sentinel had turned almost on a pin in the direction of the warp signatures and predictions laid it straight at this planet. This had to be one of their backwater hideouts. Whatever this base had served as before, obviously the terrorists were planning to go to ground here to hide out from the IMC. Good thing, they got here first.

His team was angry after Victor; Mayumi's head wasn't on straight yet. She had asked for a private word and it was about their employer: Hammond Industries. He told her, what he told most new recruits: "This is the Frontier, what basic told you doesn't apply here. It's best if you forget most of it." She hadn't liked hearing that and most of them didn't either but the ones who forget about morals last a hell of a lot longer.

 _Screeechhhh!_

Ramirez snapped from his thoughts and saw the watch tower begin to snap and careen into the village below. It's landing wrecked buildings and sent a large plume of dust into the air. He searched for the source of the action and found it with Winters' Titan _Panzer._ The tip of her 40mm cannon was still smoking from the rally.

"Sniper's nest cleared." She declared a beat later.

"Did you get a kill?" Ramirez asked.

"Can't say, Sir."

"One," Grendal reported in his raspy tone, "Both enemy Titans are forming a defensive perimeter around the two hold outs."

"Good, they're boxed in now," Ramirez sounded confident, "keep enveloping them on both sides and try to snuff out their Titans. Shouldn't be long now."

"Sir, it looks like 2nd Mechanized is getting wiped out." Winters reported.

"This Warhound Actual," Blisk cut in, "it looks like the primary wave of Spectres has failed. Warhound One, this is now a battle of attrition, wipe out everything that stands in your way down there."

"All units, free to engage at will," Ramirez ordered, "I repeat, free to engage. Happy hunting." What a _beautiful day_. He could almost grin.

"Admiral Graves," Spyglass addressed Graves from his console on the bridge, "I've intercepted the enemy communication. Voice only. Shall I play it now?"

"Go ahead." Graves answered simply.

There was a few beeps of the command console, "Looks like… finally found our little corner of the universe… we are not 'terrorists', we are not part of your damn war… we're falling back to… and colonists, if you can hear me, do not engage the IMC. They can't be reasoned with…" The transmission was full of static and interference.

"Spyglass, intercept that signal and clean it up. I want to know where on the planet it's broadcasting from."

Spyglass hung for a moment as if in thought then replied, "Sir, its strength indicates that it can't be too far from the colony and orbital scans show a large structure here to the north." Spyglass brought up halo-displays in the center of the bridge. Despite some massive damage and missing parts there was no doubt that it was an IMC carrier. Graves studied the image thoroughly.

"Then that must be where they're transmitting from. Blisk, secure the colony on the double. There may be more terrorist forces in the area."

"Roger that." Blisk's voice was enthusiastic and as much as that bothered Graves, that genuine like of warfare made him good on the battlefield. That was reason enough to keep him on as an "advisor". But Vice-Admiral Graves returned his attention back to the short wave transmission from the colony. _The IMC can't be reasoned with_. The phrase locked itself in his mind. It sound familiar and yet he couldn't place it. It spoke familiarity and the report of the Special Ops weapon in such a remote outpost was disturbing. If Blisk's intel was correct then they had to of deserted early into the conflict which could mean…

 _MacAllan_. He had to be sure and the only way to be sure was find out who the hell was on the other end of that transmission.

"Mayumi!" Ramirez shouted through the mike, "Wake up! We're about to go in. On my order, draw the first enemy Titan's attention with your charge rifle then deploy east of us and link up with Winters. Understood?"

"Yessir!" Mayumi slung the charge rifle off her shoulder and sighted the enemy Titan. From her position she'd have to move out onto the roof to get a good shot. If she was careful she'd be able to get a shot off before the pilot noticed her. If not…

She quickly pushed the thought from her head and crept onto the open platform atop the garage. She gave the trigger a gentle pull and a red light began to pulse from the other end. The rifle was heavy and she knelt down on her knee to steady the end. _Please don't notice me._ She silently prayed as other end of the rifle began to shake increasingly. Already it had felt like she had been aiming the rifle for minutes on end. Her stomach lurched. The other Titan aimed right at her.

"FUCK!" She yelled and the beam screamed right over the Titan and she hastily skittered away from the incoming machine gun fire. Bullets ripped apart the garage's roof sending bits of hot metal flying by her head. Mayumi rolled behind a window onto her stomach and crawled deeper into the garage for better cover. When she was clear she pinged her Titan to fall just behind cover of the garage. Once she got to the edge of the catwalk she twisted her body around and dropped to the floor and made a run for her Titan.

Blisk popped onto her visor screen and he didn't look happy. "Six, congratulations on stepping up in the squad. I was thinking about our 'little' conversation earlier and it made me think. What kinda of pilot are you?"

 _What's going on here?_ "Sir?" She asked not fully understanding if he was broadcasting this to the whole squad.

"So I pulled up your file again and this time, I read between the lines." This couldn't be good. She reached out for her Titan and climbed in watching as the screens flickered on. "See your titan kill ratio was superb but your pilot kills were… lacking." Mayumi was trying to block him out and continue on her task and link up with Winters; who was slowly moving up the center of the colony dealing with the second Titan.

"You see," Blisk continued, "there was only one instance of which your instructors made a note upon your record: Nimr."

Mayumi froze and the air escaped from her lungs.

"Officially, Nimr died during Hell Week," She knew he was just talking to her now. This was payback for earlier for questioning him in front of everyone. "His death was ruled an accident. He slipped in the shower room severing his spine on one of the shower edges. Though it wasn't an accident was it?"

 _No. Don't make me…_

"There are no accidents at Whitehead, only those who are better than everyone else."

 _No._

"Only the strong survive."

 _It wasn't my fault._

"So prove to me why you should've survived."

Mayumi couldn't stand it. She had to prove it now. If he knew about Nimr…

"Yes, sir." She responded weakly.

"Good, then kill the enemy. With certainty this time." Blisk added with a ominous tone.

Mayumi steadied herself, she tried to calm her breathing. Slow breaths that calmed her system, holding the breath for just a few beats before releasing the air. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't. Even now, years later, Whitehead still took everything from her. I should never have left Ceti E.

Ramirez and Grendel had tried to reduce the terrorist's cover to rubble. He was crafty and was difficult to fix without exposing their flanks. Soon enough another Militia Titan had entered the fray. This one burst through the deployed electric smoke focusing specifically on him. It was wild, reckless, and stupid. Ramirez was almost offended by how brazen the enemy was becoming; throwing away their already meager supplies. Back on planet Victor, it had been an easy victory to route the Militia. Already they were fighting the Militia on back water planets. Victory felt like it was just around the next planet. The next fight could be their last.

"What's Five doing?" Winters piped in.

Hhadn't he ordered Mayumi to link up with Winters. But he couldn't divert his attention now however; the current enemy demanded his ministrations. The enemy styder Titan was quick but now stuck between the Colony's wall and the building. It was easy prey for him and Grendel and the pair quickly brought it down. Overconfident, Ramirez swept forward to rip the defeated enemy out of their Titan.

The green Titan's core suddenly burst with bright blue light. The reactor was going to blow. It made sense, a lot of the Militia's Titans were old types that were still powered by nuclear reactors. There wasn't any time to boost back to safety. He had one option left to him.

Quickly pulling the eject handle, Ramirez burst from his Atlas and within moments was high above the battlefield. And below him the world was encased in bright white light of the reactor explosion, he scanned the sky for the enemy pilot.

She was just below him. The pilot's head was down correcting her decent to land on her compatriot's Titan. Instinct took over and the squad leader pulled out his Hammond and began leading his target. At the high speeds of their descent it would be a hell of a shot but if he could neutralize her before she got to safety, it'd be worth it.

The first shot missed, as well as the second, third, and forth. By this time, the enemy pilot was firing back. Finally the fifth shot might've made impact just before she made it home and he saw for a brief instant that she stumbled onto the Titan. He boosted and then rolled onto the ground and tumbled for a moment before recovering. The armor absorbing most of the impact.

"This is one," he clutched his head to steady himself, "We have one enemy Titan down and maybe an enemy pilot injured. Report in."

"This is Two, three Titans moving on the left flank. Still no response from Five."

"Pushing past another Militia Grunt stronghold. Minimum resistance." Grendel reported, a hint of satisfaction in his voice.

A beat went past and Five still didn't respond. Ramirez checked his nav map and Five's position was still just past the garage. T _he hell is going on with her?_

Spyglass looked up from his panel, "Vice Admiral Graves, I have the enemy transmission. Patching in."

"We didn't want any part of your damn war so you brought it to our doorstep?! Those were civilians getting slaughtered!" The transmission cut in.

MacAllan. A cold chill bristled Graves. He recognized the voice imeadiately. It seemed like a sick joke played by fate. He could see his face on video now. Older and with less hair then he remembered. Graves had told him to leave colonized spce to never be seen again, seems he hadn't gone far enough. "MacAllan." Graves said darkly, "Spyglass! Open a channel!"

"Yes sir," Spyglass went through a process of communication for a moment then nodded, "Channel open, Vice Admiral."

"You should have stayed gone, MacAllan."

"Graves," MacAllan replied as dark as Graves had done, "You're still on the wrong side, aren't you?"

 _Still as bitter as the last time we met, are we?_ "We're soldiers, Mac. You're dreaming if you think you can sit it out."

"I'm awake now, you son of a bitch." MacAllan severed the transmission.

"Spyglass," Graves instructed, "I want this colony cleared of Militia now and prepared for a Forward CP. Drop in the remaining 2nd Mechanized still on standby. Prepare the 15th Artillery Drone Squadron for armor piercing. We're going to assault the _Odyssey._ "

"Of course, Vice Admiral." Spyglass began processing Graves' request. Graves leaned back in his chair and put his finger tips together. MacAllan would change everything for the Militia. There were only two people in the universe who had worked on project Erebus; himself and MacAllan. If they got a hold of him, it would be their best chance of recovering the plans for damaging multiple IMC outposts. It would be the single greatest blow against the IMC on the Frontier and prolong the war. It couldn't be allowed to happen.

"Come in Blisk," Graves opened a channel.

There was no answer for a moment, "Blisk here."

"Blisk, turn that colony upside down if you have to."

"Who is this guy?" Blisk asked.

"Jame MacAllan, former IMC commander. He's wanted for mutiny. We've tracked the signal to a former IMC Carrier, _The Odyssey_."

"How'd it get here?"

"We'll worry about that later. Just clear this Colony and prep it for a forward cp." Graves ordered.

"Yes sir!"

 _Panzer's_ fist flew into the second story room smashing several Militiamen into a bloody mess. Winters retracted it quickly tearing out bits of the building along with her. Blisk had just filled them in on what was going on; that some former IMC commander was orchestrating the Militia's defense. From the sounds of it they were getting close to finishing off the Militia once and for all. That was good, the sooner the Frontier was won the sooner she could collect the total of her contract.

It would have been even better but six, Five, whatever she was promoted to, was still not responding. Winters thought it was quite off but she could only imagine how Grendel was going to deal with it. Though, she was fairly certain that Ramirez was going to take most if not all of the blame for a dereliction of duty. For the last minute, One was trying to raise her on comms with no luck, it was as if her signal was being overridden.

"Winters get over there and find out what the hell is going on." Ramirez ordered her.

"Copy that."

Winter's Ogre Titan strode off towards Mayumi's position. It was still behind the garage she had deployed her Titan. All they'd need was for there to be a glitch in her Styrder to botch this op. From her position she could the large mechanical door of the garage was just about to move through to confirm Mayumi's position when her radio crackled.

"Winters." Five's voice said weakly.

"What the hell have you been doing?!" Winters berated her.

"I— I just received new orders from Blisk."

"New orders?"

"Yes. I must carry them out."

"What just like that? What's going on?"

"Two, did you make contact, what's wrong with Five? Is it a malfunction?" Ramirez interupted.

"No," Winters replied back to him, "She has new orders from Blisk."

"The fuck!" He yelled, "I want her back in formation now."

"I'm sorry." Mayumi's voice said softly. Her Stryder lurched off past Winters cutting within inches of colliding into each other. Winters rotated her Titan and chased after her. Until Mayumi's Titan deployed electrical smoke. She let loose a few rounds of her 40mm to cover Mayumi while she went into the enemy.

"No! Leave her." Ramirez ordered.

"Sir?" Winters stopped.

"If Blisk wants to micro-manage my op, fine, but while I still have control on the ground you will obey my orders."

"We can't just sit by and—"

"You have your orders. Engage only if fired upon."

Winters slammed her fists against the sides of her chair. _THIS IS BULLSHIT._

Grendel couldn't help but slightly shake his head. It was the wrong call but not for the reasons Ramirez had ordered Winters. It was Blisk's op on the ground and his orders were clear: to eliminate all the remaining Militia on the ground. What Ramirez was doing was a clear violation of his CO, a serious breach of contract and could result in termination. Not only that but leaving one of his own unsupported was tactless. Unless…

"Sir, if I may speak freely." Grendel said.

"This isn't up for discussion, Two." Ramirez replied sternly.

"Are you going sacrifice Five in order to focus on the dropship?"

There was a pause, "Yes."

"Good." Grendel cut the feed. That was all he needed to know.

Winters watched from her position as the water tower collapsed trapping Mayumi on the other side of the colony surrounded by five enemy Titans. It was suicide. Whatever the hell had happened between her and Blisk it was coming to a head right now. They had known he was an asshole but to go this far? And as far she cared right now Ramirez had choked on his balls with pride.

"Squad form up on me, we'll assault the dropship from the northern approach along the colony's wall." Ramirez relayed via the intercom.

"We're just going to leave her?"

"She's under direct orders, we're going to directly assault the dropship and take all the pilots out at once."

"She's going to die."

"It's not your call to make."

"Yes, sir. Forming up." All the enemy pilots would be worth the loss of one squad member. Winters could forgive Ramirez for earlier; as long as it succeeded.

 _She's not thinking, not picking her battles._ And some moments later Mayumi could be seen ejecting from her titan as it went critical and exploded. Grendel watched passively as she faded into her cloak. He sighted his laser rifle scanning the roof tops for any signs of her as she fell back.

"Eyes up." Ramirez called out. Grendel unsighted the laser rifle and shifted his vision towards the now descending Militia Crow. "Once the pilots get on board prepare to unload."

"Copy." Grendel replied in his raspy tone.

Suddenly Grendel's screen exploded into a visual mess of static and warped images. EMP, what else could it be? He immediately boosted backwards to avoid any enemy fire and did his best to find cover. A few seconds later Ramirez and Winters both had similar problems. The quick answer was that there was a pilot on the ground running interference for the pilots covering their escape.

"Single pilot, moving fast!" Winters called out, "He was headed towards the dropship. Mayumi if you can hear this, get him."

"Ignore him! We need to focus on the Crow! Grendel do you have visual back?"

Grendel sat wordlessly in his seat waiting for visual. After a moment it steadied, "Yes."

"Move to the dropship now, go!"

Grendel didn't even respond he just pushed his Titan forward as hard as he could. Once he was past the building in an open clearing he sighted the dropship and charged his laser rifle. The first charge barely even damaged the dropship's "body shield". He fired off his ordnance of missiles registering good hits on the shield. It came too late and before any good damage could be done the Crow was already en route to the large carcass of an IMC carrier in the distance. Grendel didn't hear Ramirez on the radio to know he was upset. It wasn't a defeat but it sure as hell felt like one. Something in the air just told him that they were going to be for a bigger fight.

Ramirez was getting his ass chewed out by Blisk and for that, Mayumi was thankful it wasn't her. Her team had kept their distance and even Blisk seemed to treat her as if she wasn't even there which was a welcome change of pace. Smoke drifted through the colony and the smell of burning oil and foliage filled the air. She had to keep blinking sweat and dirt from her eyes and for the most part she kept her gaze to the ground. It was better that way for now. She was sitting on the ground, her back propped up against a broken wall of rubble. They would rest for now, while the ground teams prepped the colony and secured the perimeter. The pilots could feel it, within the day they would push onto the Odyssey and finish off the last of the Milita. Until then, Mayumi would sit and use as little energy as possible to remain numb to everything around her.

Graves sat in his chair at tactical control. The colony operation was over and Graves was now turning his attention to face MacAllan. He studied the map over and over again: each contour, each type of terrain, every possible way of attacking the Odyssey. It reminded him a lot of Thermopylae. No doubt, MacAllan would enjoy the prospect of pretending to be a Spartan. That was fine with Graves, if Xerxes had access to half a galaxy worth of resources, men, and equipment as well as a full compliment of AI logistic programs and tactical readouts, well Thermopylae may have turned out much differently. The vice-admiral smiled a little to himself, it wasn't so much like Thermopylae when you put it that way, maybe like Operation Little Saturn 1943 or the Second Chimurenga? The ideas played in Graves' head and he enjoyed the small reminiscence. The unpleasant part of all this was how to deal with the civilians on the ground. After the colony assault, Graves felt it was uncouth to leave Blisk in charge once again. He would lead this operation from the Front as he had always done before.

"Spyglass." He addressed the spectre unit.

"Yes, Vice-admiral?"

"I want overall standing orders to all troops that civilians casualties are to be avoided if possible. That extends to Dropships even with Militia combatants."

"Yes sir, relaying orders to all deployed Squad Leaders."

"Good," Graves got up and clasped his hands behind his back, "Also, prepare a Goblin transport for me personally."

"Of course, Vice-admiral." Spyglass nodded his head.

Grendel stalked through the field. It was where he had found the traitor from earlier. He felt drawn back to the site, though he wasn't quite sure what he was looking for. Slowly, working the marks on the ground he traced back the spot where the man had first opened fired, finally coming to the end of casing trail. There were two spots where the grass had been flattened. The small size of the foot prints made it a likely a child. Curious, Grendel traced them back to their source. He came over a rise and saw a small crude structure comprised of both local flora and wreckage.

The ground around the structure was hard and devoid of most foliage but even so, it was a good bet that the kid had ran in here. Possibly his home on the outskirts of the colony or some relative's home. Grendel gave the entire structure a long hard glance looking for anything out of the ordinary; a tripwire, a gun sight, anything that would indicate a trap. Though he couldn't find any, Grendel proceeded as if there would be.

Slowly, pausing every meter or two to listen for any disturbance, Grendel finally reached the front door of the structure. The house itself looked like the ones he had seen in the favelas on Tau Ceti F. He slid his combat knife under the door slowly feeling for any traps. When he was satisfied, he slowly tested the door knob and cautiously moved inside. The domicile was dark except for what little light penetrated the cracks in the roof. A half-moment later and the lens on Grendel's visor adjusted for the light and he could see everything perfectly. Inside, were a set of stairs and just over the floor he could make out a sparse kitchen. There, as he expected to find, was a small boy with his head on his hands. He startled as Grendel approached almost jumping to his feet.

"Who- who are you!" The boy demanded.

"Rescue team," it was the first thing he thought of, "we received a distress call." Luckily the kid couldn't see his face at all, he wasn't sure how believable he would be without the helmet. He wasn't sure how cooperative the kid would be and hopefully it wouldn't come to neutralizing him. Even he couldn't stomach the idea of killing a child. Once he brought him in, that would be everyone from the colony rounded up and the perimeter secured. And whatever happened then, he wouldn't worry about.

"I thought so," the boy said after a second, "Were those robots yours then? I knew Mr. Al shouldn't have shot so quickly. I hope your robots are okay."

"Oh, uh, I wouldn't know," Grendel paused thinking of what to say, "I was just tasked with looking for survivors."

"Survivors!" The boy jumped up, "Where? Is Mr. Al okay?"

"I'm sure he is." Grendel tried to sound comforting but it came off as more dismissive. The boy stopped himself and quickly calmed himself in something similar to an at ease position; which Grendel thought odd. "Tac Six, this is Warhound-One-Four, found one survivor, a child. Copy?"

"Warhound-One-Four, this is Vice-admiral Graves, I'll see to the child here at the colony. What's their status?"

"Solid, sir."

"Understood, out."

"Hey," the kid interjected after the radio chatter died down, "Al, my friend, he had a gun like yours, are you sure you haven't seen him?"

The image of the man being hoisted into a tree flashed to Grendel's mind.

"Like I said, I'm sure he's fine."

* * *

Hey, I know it's a been a really long time, but I love the views I've been getting and the last review I saw was very nice. So thanks guys! Let me know your thoughts opinions etc, I love hearing them! Originally I was going to keep to the format of the game, so intro sequence followed by the battle and then outro but I'm going to pull away from that more and more to keep it interesting for me and for you guys. Hopefully, that way the chapter releases won't be so spread out in the future. ^^'


	5. Chapter 3A: Final Flight of the Odyssey

Unknown System

Crash Site of the IMS Odyssey

2245, March 8th, 1522h

 _I should have been here…_

MacAllan knelt in front of the freshly buried grave. It was haphazardly made of rocks and marked solely by a red cloth tied at the tip.

 _We left everything behind. Hell, just getting here was just the beginning. You said it would be tough to start over but I didn't listen. You said war would follow, I thought they'd leave us alone. I was wrong but there's no turning back. This is our land._

 _This is our land. And I will fight for it._

In the distance, there was the sound of an aircraft's turbine growing louder.

 _I don't know if there's any honor left in the Frontier… I don't know if there ever was. All I know is, I'm going to make them pay._

The engine was suddenly right behind him and the exhaust was pushing hot air past him. He slowly rose from the shallow grave.

"MacAllan!" a voice called out over the heavy whine of the dropship.

He looked up to the man calling to him. It looked like the man from the exchange earlier during the colony massacre. He was willing to come in person that was good, it showed honor. Maybe there was some left in the frontier after all.

"They don't know what they've started…" The former IMC Captain addressed the man in charge, "You! Get me to the top of that carrier!"

"You got it."

"Deploy all your forces around this area. We need to buy time for the survivors to escape!" MacAllan grabbed the man's extended hand and was pulled into the dropship.

"We got a job to do team." Talea ushered her out of the Crow. The day had gone from bad to QSF really quick. No titans to deploy, one pilot injured, and a team low on ammo. Now, Bish tells her, she and her team have to protect some homesteaders from the IMC and to boot, it turned out there was an Ex-IMC that was too good to pass up. Reinforcements were en route, all they had to do was sit tight and then ride the dropship out with Bish. She pulled back on the charging handle and checked to see if there was still a round in the chamber. Once they'd introduced themselves, she'd clean her rifle and have her squad do the same.

Chung was last to get out and Talea followed him out. Her squad had formed a column with her coming up into the center. In front of them stood three homesteaders. Her eye caught on one of them, he was as tall Frisko with a bandolier of grenades over his shoulders and wide brimmed cover. The trio were a respectful distance from a shallow grave. If she had to guess, these were MacAllan's officers. The whole thing was a bad omen. All that was left was for the homesteaders to pull out were sharp sticks.

Talea removed her helmet and tucked it under her arm, "I'm Lieutenant Talea of the 7th Annapolis Shadow Runners."

The smaller man in the middle saluted, "Senior Chief Hamish, Former IMC. I didn't know the Militia had ranks."

"A lot has changed since Aries, sir." She said respectfully, "What's the situation here?"

"Where to start?" Hamish turned and lead the group towards a small collection of buildings, "We've cut the trolley car cables to the colony, dumped most of any scrap in the way of the fields for your dropships to evac our people, our primary anti-air turret was destroyed in the initial assault on the colony. Nothing major really, a single rail gun meant to scare off the local wildlife but it might've helped. It's not much but we do have some fuels stores we can throw in to help." They had stopped by a building and Hamish motioned Talea for a private word.

"Team, wait here." She followed Hamish a some meters away.

"A lot of us wanted to stay out of this war and with what happened below there's a lot of resentment going around but for what it's worth, thank you. Some might not say it but we're all thinkin' it." He gave a weak smile and nodded.

"Well at least that's something." Talea sighed, "Any more bad news?"

"Well, just one..."

"Bish, I'm gonna transmit some intel from the Odyssey. I'm going in. Stand by." MacAllan pushed off from the dropship onto the top of the ship.

"Bish!" Sarah piped in through his ear piece, "We're taking orders from this MacAllan now?"

"The guy knows the area better than we do, Sarah."

"He's Ex-IMC! I don't trust him and neither should you."

"Maybe, but our tactics are a mess, and he's seen more combat than the both of us combined. Don't worry I'll keep an eye on him. Out."

Bish turned to the pilot, "Park it here, don't leave without me understood." The pilot nodded and set the ship to idle. Bish stepped off the Crow and quickly walked over to MacAllan, who was unsealing a hatch.

"You comin'?" MacAllan asked as he heaved open the large hatch.

"You bet. I had a bitch of a time just securing your channel, no way I'm gonna let this intel even have a chance of not reaching us." Which was mostly true, it was a good an excuse as any.

"Fine, stick with me. We don't have long before Graves arrvies."

"What's your deal with that guy anyways?" Bish prodded.

"Let's just say, we saw the Frontier differently." MacAllan said climbing down into the ex-IMC carrier.

"If you say so, Mac." Bish chuckled. He had a good feeling MacAllan was going to fit right in.

The lieutenant kicked a crate as she returned from talking with Hamish. Bartusky, looked up from praying and rested her hands on her knees eying Talea, judging how mad she might actually be. When it looked like it was going to subside, Bartusky bowed her head once more and then stood up and brushed her knees. She would need as much strength as god would give her today. She hobbled over on her bad leg towards the rest of the squad. Grissom was sitting on a rock and offered it to her as she approached. She tried to wave it off but he raised an eyebrow and Bartusky chuckled and cautiously sat down eager not to agitate her leg.

"Alright 7th," Talea began, "Here's whats up, until reinforcements arrive, we're the only guns this whole place has."

"Fuck. Off." Vlocke said from the spot he was leaning.

Grissom whistled, "We haven't been in anything this bad before."

"No," She confirmed, "But the birds should be here anytime, all we have to do is help get this place defensible."

"Ma'am, right there, that gangplank area looks like it has good vantage." Chung pointed towards the Odyssey's cliff facing side.

"But too much exposure." Talea looked over to Hamish, who was addressing some homesteaders, "Hamish! This man needs a good place to perch."

"There's a spot near the opposite end that has good cover just over by the old Titan doors!" Hamish called back, "Abigail can show you." Bartusky watched as Abigail reluctantly came forward and slowly walked over towards the Titan doors.

"Frisko," Talea nodded towards him, "How many more boxes do you got left?"

"Two, ma'am."

"Find yourself a choke point and dig in."

"Copy that."

"The rest of you, make yourselves useful. We don't have much time."

Bartusky was just about on her feet when Talea grabbed her by the arm. She gasped and looked up at the lieutenant, "Ma'am?"

"Not you. You're on the next dropship out of here."

"I can still fight."

"Shoot yes, jump no. Not on that leg. I ain't about to have one of my squad do something stupid and get themselves killed."

"So that's it? I'm just some lame ass grunt now?"

"I thought a woman of faith would understand when she can't fight." Talea said.

"I'm also a Marauder. I swore to free the Frontier even at the cost of my life." Bartusky's normally quiet demeanor breaking away.

"There's a time to fight and a time to live to fight another day."

"You said so yourself, that we're the only guns they have right now. You need me here."

"That maybe. But I'll feel a hell of a lot better knowing that one of my squad is safe back in the sky."

"Aye, ma'am..."

"Wildcard 3-1, this is Blackjack over." Talea's radio crackled.

"Go ahead Blackjack," Talea responded.

"ETA 30 seconds to first run."

"Roger that, Blackjack be advised have one Pilot for evac, over."

"Understood, Wildcard, putting her down on coordinates Bravo Four."

"Roger Blackjack, Wildcard 3-1 out." Talea nodded over to the clearing back towards whence they had came. Bartusky understood and she hated it. Her whole squad was here, it wasn't fair that she had to leave. It was like letting them down, letting herself down. The walk became a lot more painful now.

A series of cracks signaled the arrival of first wave of evacuations. Shadows streaked across her path as she hobbled towards the Crow landing some distance from her. The side door slid open and a squad of grunts rushed out followed by the copilot. He saw her coming towards the dropship and ran over to her.

"You the Titan Pilot for evac?"

"Yeah!" She shouted over the engines.

He hurried over to her and leaned into her ear to shout over the sound of the engines, "Can you still shoot?"

"Absolutely," she said back into his.

"Good. We need someone on the turret. Come on!" He hoisted her arm over his shoulder and they moved as fast they could back into the dropship. Once they were inside the ship was already gently lifting off the ground.

"Sync in." The captain said gruffly from the cockpit, "MacAllan, this is Blackjack 3-1, thanks for the invite, start the music." The gunnery chief lowered the gun pit for Bartusky to sit in and then sent the seat to slide up into the gun turret.

"Strapped in, okay?" The chief asked.

"Yeah." She said into her headset.

"Good, it's the best seat in the house." The captain said wryly, "You'll be our turret gunner for this afternoon. All birds this is Blackjack actual, what are we doing, you may be asking yourself. Well, I'll tell you. We are going to be welcoming the IMC to this lovely planet with our warm 23 mm hospitality. What do you think Czhek?"

"It'll be the bang of the ball, sir." Czhek chuckled.

"Just as long as you shoot better than you tell jokes, eh Czhek?" Another dropship pilot retorted. There was uproarious laughter.

"Fuck you Wahl!" Czhek said hotly.

"Anywhere, anytime." Wahl said. There was even more laughter.

"Alright, knock it off party goers, what are we here for?" Blackjack reminded them.

"The Frontier, sir!"

"And who are we?"

"Desperados, sir!" The team chimed back.

"Absolutely goddamn right." Bartusky could hear Blackjack swell with pride, "Pick and call your targets Desperados, let's rock!"

Bartusky got a feel for the turret. Something like this could come in handy on a Titan, she thought. She spun the turret rotating it a full clock-face and then moved the gun up and down. It felt pretty responsive.

"Bartusky, right?" The Captain spoke over the radio. Her name must of shown up once she synced in.

"Yes, sir."

"Bartusky..." Blackjack mulled over the name, "What is that? Mid-colonization?"

"Yes, sir. My parents came from Io station through Demeter."

"Alright, well if you see any IMC fighters in the sky, you fill those fuckers with as much lead as you can."

"We expecting trouble, Captain."

"Always." Blackjack replied simply.

"Cap'n, we're in range." The gunnery chief said.

"Guns, guns, guns!" Blackjack said enthusiastically.

 _Atlas Titan, 11 o'clock._

 _Good hits._

 _Goblin inbound, two o'clock. Hey! Think I saw someone fall out._

 _Lots of hugs and kisses from a Stryder down there. Straight aft from behind that large building._

 _XO-16 confirmed. Locked on, missiles away._

 _Nice Czhek! whoa taking hits!_

 _I see it, Wahls, Ogre Titan with a railgun. 4 o'clock._

 _You got a clipped tail there Wahls._

 _Damn, must've slipped the D-csar. I'm stable. Coming around for another run._

It was hard to keep the gun level with Blackjack moving about but Bartusky was able to keep up. The turret's interface was doing most of the adjustments giving her just where to put the crosshairs to lead targets. As they passed over the colony she had just fought, a few signals popped up and she couldn't refuse to pitch in a little herself.

The turret's single gun made a loud bop-like noise. Her shots blowing out the titan's body shield. Moments later a missile slammed into it creating a fireball.

"Thanks for the setup Cap'n."

"Roger that Wahls. You can thank our guest of honor."

"Mighty obliged ma'am." Wahl thanked her.

"Anytime." Bartusky smiled to herself.

"Told you even a Titan Pilot could shoot a turret." The copilot teased.

"Don't tell her that," Blackjack teased back, "She might try to fly the ship next. Then we'd be out of a job."

"Blackjack, this is Dealer," Sarah's voice piping in through the video feed on Bartusky's turret HUD, "incoming warp signatures above you, time to pull out."

"Confirmed Dealer, Blackjack coming back to base, out. Let's bogey. Pop flares one through four and then warp to mark one-niner-niner."

"Flares out." The copilot reported.

"Ease back..." Blackjack said smoothly, "And, pull!"

The world streamed around them as the Crow blasted through upper atmo and into jumpspace and back out again. As the bright light of the jump phased out, she could see the entire Marauder fleet ahead of her. She rotated the turret taking in the entire sight as they slowly maneuvered their way into one of the landing bays. Seeing all the ships coordinated was awe-inspiring. To believe that this many ships were still intact after Horizon was incredible despite everything.

"Okay, you ready to come down?" The copilot asked her.

Bartusky nodded, "Yes sir."

She descended from the turret down into the drop bay. The copilot checked her over quickly and then helped her out of the seat. "Just between the two of us, the captain won't say anything but if you help out another bird, keep your eye in the skies. Putting rounds on the deck tells us that you weren't watching where you're supposed to. Not that we don't appreciate the assist." The copilot handed her a couple stims. Bartusky took them and tucked them away in her vest. She didn't use stims but she knew people that did and that would work for trading.

She got up from the turret seat as the copilot opened up the side door. He gave her leg an appraisal, "Probably get a medical team to come pick you up."

"You could," She replied as she was already walking away from the dropship. Doing the best she could to hide the limp in her leg.

Bish took a look around the tattered remnants of the IMC carrier's control room. Wires were dangling by someone poor at scavenging for parts. MacAllan was busy fidgeting with a console.

"What are you looking for Mac? This ship's falling apart."

"Don't be so quick to write it off, there's still some life left in her."

"By a thread. You think this is really gonna work?"

"you know if we want to transmit any of this data off this ship, we have to fire it up."

"Alright," Bish snapped open his computer and laid it down on a desk, "what do you need me to do?"

"First you'll have to download our source code, we've had to modify it over the years-"

"Sorry," Bish interrupted, "I meant after I've rebooted your ship's systems." Just as he finished the lights turned back on. MacAllan chuckled and looked around.

"Well I'll be." MacAllan shot out of his seat excited, "You stay here and monitor the ship, while I go and fire up the reactor." He left through the open door and out into the interior hallway.

"Wait- ah shit." Bish let out a little sigh, "Sarah, how's it going with the evacuation?"

Sarah walked around the halo-display of the battlefield, punching in keys to zoom out and rotate the map.

"I'm short staffed but we're making do. We have as many Crows as I can spare for evacuations or Hornets for escorts." She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. Then she added a little quieter, "go to a secure channel."

"We're good." Bish said back, "What's up?"

"The IMC are launching a full airstrike against the Odyssey. Whatever MacAllan's looking for in there its not worth dying over. Just grab him and get out of there."

"No Sarah, it sounds crazy but I think he might actually have something."

"Bish, what could be left on this relic?"

"I dunno, but I have a good feeling about it. Don't worry I'll keep this channel open."

There was a loud cacophony in the distance. Vlocke lazily turned to it, letting his MRE fall from his hand. Just behind the tall wisps of smoke from the colony were several incoming missiles. "Shet! Wa got 'ncomin'!" Vlocke spat out flecks of tasteless protein. He dashed back inside the Odyssey and grabbed hold of a civilian on his way in, dragging her away from the open windows.

"I see it," Chung said, "Quad Rocket pods, artillery trajectory."

Vlocke shielded his face with his hand and peered at the terrain next to him. The homesteaders behind him shook and wailed. Then a moment later the rockets slammed into the nearby buildings and clearings. The sound was deafening as it rent metal and threw up dirt, throwing the whole world in a unstable blur of motion.

"Fuckers are gonna bomb us out!" Vlocke yelled over the loud booms and crashes, his voice barely audible even to him "Proper keelhaul this is!"

"They're falling wide of the Odyssey." The squad sniper reported, "Wait... multiple IMC Phantoms!"

"Damn, they're like a flock of bees out there!" Frisko exclaimed.

"Swarm man, birds flock." Grissom corrected him.

It was hard to hear the rest of the squad, Vlocke was only hearing bits and pieces through the gaps in the explosions. But he was sure that whatever was happening involved doing something better than sitting around waiting to get torn to bits.

"Dealer, this is Wildcard 1-1," Talea said, "I need five priority warpfalls now!"

"Solid copy Wildcard. Be advised, friendly air support en route."

"Understood Dealer, out."

Talea addressed her squad, "Team, this is a new level of QSF." The Odyssey rumbled and shook as new waves of missiles struck the hull, "But whatever happens, make sure the IMC pay for every inch of this place in blood. Chung, deploy and dispatch the artillery but no heroics. Frisko, Vlocke the two of you will run interference. Grissom and I will stay aboard the odyssey and repel any IMC forces that get inside.

Bish drummed away at his keyboard, striking the keys as fast as he could trying to pull as much data from the wreck as possible. Besides raiding installations for small caches of data or supplies, this was a goddamn gold mine in comparison. He had gotten pretty creative over the months and had been good at estimating in any details he couldn't salvage from data drives or parts.

Bish gave himself a little chuckle, he hadn't been aboard an IMC ship since they'd shipped him out to Frontier in the first place. Maybe if they won the battle, he could take his time and really get to know the ship's computer and pull more information anything that might be useful. Anything that would give them an edge later on.

A mechanical chime played and before Bish could find it and figure out what it was MacAllan spoke to him, "Bish, I'm patching you into the Odyssey's flight computers and black box. Gonna have to fire her up to start the transmission."

"The better half of this wreck is scrapheap, Mac. What's on there? What's so important?"

"Trust me- you wanna take the fight to the IMC? Then you're gonna want this data. Standby while I fire up the reactor."

The Odyssey began to rumble and groan as the engines started to kick back to life. Bish's screen flickered with a new data window and information began to whir by. "Mac, the Odyssey is coming online. Transfer initiated, whoa!" A new data package opened labeled _Project_Erebus/Demeter/Demeter__. "You're getting schematics for Demeter?"

"Damn right, Bish. Shut that place down, and the IMC lose their access to the Frontier. That's how we take the fight to them."

Other panels around Bish began to light up with warning signs as a camera screen popped up showing the front engine shake violently and rip itself off the Odyssey. "Mac! The Odyssey is shaking itself apart! You sure this is going to work?"

"Have a little faith Bish, we're not flying this thing. She'll hold together for what we need."

"What we need?!" Bish exclaimed. MacAllan was a war hero but being this far out must have addled his brain. "MacAllan you're crazy if you think we can take out Demeter. The air support alone is bigger than all the Militia fleets combined."

"You don't know the half of it." MacAllan said confidently.

"We don't know the half of it?" Sarah's broke in, "We've been taking the fight to 'em every day, while you've been hiding out in the sticks."

"Believe me, I'm not hiding anymore. Bish, the transmission should've finished. Got everything you need?"

"Yeah, I think so. Sarah, we're done here." Bish shut the screen on his laptop and got up from the derelict command deck, "Alright Mac, let's get out of here."

"Copy that, I'll meet you at the dropship." MacAllan said.

Just east of the wreck, Chung's Titan stalked the cover of the trees edging as close as he could to the cliff face. Overhead, the sky swirled in a mix of white, green, and orange. As both forces on the frontier clashed in an aerial dance of death.

He crouched down and stabilized the railgun. He waited for the IMC Titans to begin firing again to confirm their positions. Chung calibrated the Titan's reticle to compensate for the distance. When he was positive he'd make the hit, he charged up the railgun waiting to the last second before revealing his position and let the beam fly down range. Chung held his view for a second to confirm he'd hit the target before standing up and boosting backwards to move to another position before they could zero in on him.

Bartusky walked down the passageway toward medical, still infuriated about being sent back. She still could have fought at the colony, god knows Talea needed every gun she could get down there. But the simple truth of it was, it wasn't Bartusky's choice to make. She was still a Marauder and thus obliged to follow her Lieutenant's orders even if she disagreed with them. How else would the Frontier ever be taken seriously?

That was the idea, ever since Aires. If they were gonna push the IMC out of the Frontier they had to show the Core worlds that they were equal to them. That meant that every homesteader, criminal, or ex-soldier had to have discipline greater than themselves in order to prove it and Bartusky had given herself completely to the cause. What greater cause could there be than to help protect the innocent? And today of all days, where she could have put that to the test, she gets ordered to rest in a comfy bed while her team fights it out on the ground.

"It's fucking bullshit!" Bartusky gritted her teeth. _Remember, you're not the only one trying to fight this war. If you were supposed to be on the ground right now, that's where'd you'd be_. Bartusky closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. She pressed on towards medical, which thankfully wasn't too far now. Once she got there, maybe she could trick herself into relaxing.

"Hey! There you are!" A voice called out behind her.

Bartusky turned around and saw the Copilot from Blackjack's dropship. She grinned, "What? You want your stims back, flyboy?"

"Shit no," He replied slightly out of breath, "just surprised I'd find you here is all. I was sure you'd have tried to get onto another dropship back to the ground."

"Is that right?" Bartuskty raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I'll be straight with you. The IMC have poured on a lot of their air support onto our guys down there. We could use someone in the top box."

"Really?"

"I could find someone else if you're not up for it. Injuries and all that."

This was the opening she was waiting for. If a window was going to open, she definitely going to jump in through the window. "If it's between my leg and helping my team down there you can bet your ass I'm in."

"Hot damn! I knew there was something I liked about you pilots. Alright let's get back to Captain Novak before he punches a hole in a bulkhead."

The bombardment had noticeably slackened. Now there was a gap in the noise in between the crashing of missiles. Chung had placed himself nearest the cliff, in the gap between the Odyssey's main hanger and front hull. It was a natural part of the terrain, where he could see vehicle tracks no doubt used to transport parts of the wreckage to the colony below.

Moving _Leonidas_ along the wall he slide his railgun as far out as he needed, quickly sighting his target and then let a beam of solid blue light slam into the target. He followed the light for a second and then spun back behind cover. A moment later a hole punched through right next to him. Chung followed the beam as it hit the under part of the Odyssey.

Chung soothed himself, "Calm, just gotta stay calm."

The shot was from a good distance, uphill, and against gravity. It was close. But it was just that: Close. The chances of him making that shot again would be close to impossible.

"Hey hey hey," Vlocke said excitedly, "the bugger's backin' off with the last arty Titan!"

"That can't be good." Chung said.

"They're inside!" Grissom yelled, "They're inside the Odyssey!"

Grissom slid a magazine into his carbine. Abigail next to him was leaning against the wall for cover, her legs tucked under her chin. From Grissom could figure the IMC must've landed on top of the ship and broken in through the hull.

"Grissom!" Talea radioed back, "How many of them are there? Can you hold them off?"

"Unknown, I saw three at least," Grissom pulled out his pistol, "Here, take my sidearm. You see anyone not green or a friend o' yours. Pop him."

Abigail already pulling back the slide and checking the chamber for grime or other obstructions, gave him a patronizing look. "I'm not some grunt fresh from the Jump, I remember how to point down range."

"Just remember what side you're on now." Grissom said. Abigail gave him the "V" fingers. "Fucking Colonists." He muttered.

"Wait, I can hear them above me..." Said Talea quietly from her position on the other side of the _Odyssey_.

Grissom looked over at Abigail, "We can't bring our Titans into the hanger while your people are still inside." Grissom checked on the boarding party again, when he saw coming down the cat walk a faint shimmer of light.

Grissom snapped his head back behind the door frame as a burst rung out. The noise was distinctive of a Hemlock: a friendly made weapon. Almost killed by a friendly right there. Except, no one on the team was carrying one!

"Get down!" Grissom yelled as he put a burst through the door way in return fire. For a second or two there was silence and Grissom started to have doubts about if actually had seen anything. Then an arc grenade clinked into view skidding off the sides of the room preventing the ordnance from being thrown back. At best, the close proximity would scramble his view at worst he'd be fried to death from electrical shock.

There must have been an lucky clover in his ass that day as the grenade rolled to a stop right at his feet. Without a second thought, he quickly kicked the grenade back out the doorway. Half a second later the grenade went off with a blinding light and he got off easy with slight warping of his vision.

Pushing on, he rushed the doorway thinking he had the advantage he needed to get the IMC pilot while they were blinded. Instead, he got a kick in his belly sending off the edge of the door way rolling towards the side of the catwalk. Grissom managed to grasp one of the support beams as one of his legs precariously dangled off the side.

The IMC pilot's suit crackled as the stealth camo licked off, her gun leveled right at his face. Grissom was painfully aware that his carbine had in all likelihood had flew right off the side. He was straight up QSF.

Abigail came around the corner and fired a shot off less than an inch in front of the pilot's helmet. Grissom could have sworn he saw the bullet's reflection on her visor. The IMC Pilot fell back into a defensive stance and used her left arm to bring up the stock of the gun smashing it into Abigail's jaw with a wicked thump.

Grissom rolled and then used his boost to propel himself off the bulkhead of the _Odyssey_ bringing his leg out into a quick kick. The woman brought her gun back into a block. The two of them crashed together and Grissom could feel her use his weight to throw him backwards. He landed on his back first, his head second and the hard impact was cushioned thanks to the padding of his suit. Grissom flipped himself over in time to see shots ricochet off the hull before cracking the helmet of the IMC woman right off.

The Pilot was a woman alright. She had cropped blonde hair that curved around her ears and a face that was almost as white as her uniform. Grissom now had an edge over her, now that her face was exposed. She still had a pistol but he had a knife and as long as he could stick her with it he had a chance. He went for his holster knife in a solid movement moving the buckle aside tugging on the end of the handle he flung it towards her as she was just about to level her pistol at him. Grissom rolled right after, the way he was taught to, so as to avoid hitting the boost pack around his waist. He heard the report of her pistol as he came out of the roll. The knife hadn't sung deep enough into her armor but it was wedged in there.

With his left, he attempted to brush aside her pistol hand. She was resolute and her arm held firm and the second shot rang out by his ear, softened by the padding of his helmet but none the less loud.

Her first instinct was pull back her gun arm and bring up her left to shove his face. Grissom wrapped his left arm around her gun arm to wrench the weapon from her hand. Her hand grabbed his helmet and Grissom felt her boot brace his torso. The next second she pushed him back incredibly hard, freeing her gun arm from his grasp. The gun tumbled out her grasp but the IMC pilot continued to attack.

"I could use some help here." The enemy pilot spoke with an accent similar to the Lisa OS voice.

"Not gonna happen!" Grissom answered her redoubling his efforts to try and take her out. The enemy Pilot ripped the knife from her side and Grissom caught a glimpse of red from the wound. He feinted to draw her knife out as she slashed out at him. He caught the back side of her arm and quickly brought her into a choke hold with his other. They struggled for a moment, each trying to muscle themselves over the other.

"I got ya bitch!" Grissom said as he slowly forced her body to bend backward.

Her eyes flicked towards him for a moment before suddenly she flipped her legs up and once again used his momentum to slam him against the ground. In the next movement, she pulled his helmet just enough to force her shin down on top of his neck. It was so fast, Grissom barely had time to register what had happened. He was sprawled out with her other leg pressing down on his arm. Grissom gritted his teeth and winced. He tried to wrestle the hand off his helmet but she rotated her wrist to break free of his grip. It was no use, she had complete control of the situation.

"Shoot. Her." Grissom sputtered out.

The IMC Pilot gasped and released her grip. She rolled over the side and somersaulted on landing before standing up. Grissom arched himself onto his side and watched her as she stared back at him for less than a breath before she turned away and recloaked herself.

Grissom caught his breath and slowly got back up onto his knees. He glanced about a second looking for a weapon to use. He noticed Abigail's arm through the doorway. It was hard to tell if she was still breathing or not. His instincts told him to keep on the mission and afterwards they could check on the wounded. The top priority of the day was to keep their new recruitment pool alive. Back on his feet, Grissom had an idea of where he could find a new gun.

Back on the _Annapolis_ , Sarah watched the holomap with tense interest. The air battle raging above the _Odyseey_ was close but they were inching out on top thanks to their Hornets. The IMC Phantoms, while newer in design were simply no match for the maneuverability of the older designed Hornets. In that regard they were winning the fight, but the IMC on the ground could still send in more troops either warp in or directly. MacAllan was already giving them tactical suggestions and IMC range data to keep the fleet hard to spot and hard to hit.

Regardless of whatever he helped them with he was still Ex-IMC. It wasn't too long ago that this planet was a lot like the one she grew up on. IMC forcing their rules on defensless colonists citing ownership from over several generations ago. None it was really true. Corporate interest had wanned and since most of the IMC had left everyone had assumed their money had left with them. The Titan Wars had raged between the Tau Ceti and Sol systems resulting in the Core Worlds and a huge defecit in resources. Struggling for years on their own on the Frontier had made them more independent. Breaucracy didn't care and all the investors in the core system cared about was income. As if that was their problem, life was hard enough before the IMC returned!

But she would time to reminise later and maybe even sort things with MacAllan after the battle was over. For now, there were more Titans to be repurposed and refited. They could rest when the Frontier no longer had the threat of the IMC and the Core Worlds.

Outside, Talea could hear the sounds of the fight above. Ocassionally the scream of a hit fighter would crash into the earth causing it to shake. To be thrown into a pitched battle so soon after Horizon was a little startling. It cast a dark thought into her head, that maybe this was nearing the end of the war. Without any respite they'd be beaten into the dust. It would be a pitiful end to the long years of the insurrection.

Talea shook the thought from her head. The mission objective was clear, keep the _Odyssey_ clear of enemy forces so that dropships could evac the colonists. And here they were inside the ship. That was her mission, she could worry about the end of the war later if they lived. So, how to drive the IMC off the ship. Inside, with the civilians about, Titans were out of the question. Plus, if they had Anti-Titan weapons the reactor dentonation could destroy the whole ship. Best course of action was to bottle the IMC in, fix their position, and then hit them with explosives. Bish was already clear with their Priority Individual, therefore all of their maneuvers would have zero chance of any major castastrophe for command.

"Grissom, Vlocke. Listen up. Grissom and I will push the IMC out onto the bridge, west of you, where you can hit them in the open. Hoo-ah?"

"Solid copy, Zeke'll love it." Vlocke answered.

"Did he just say his Titan'll love it?" Grissom asked.

"Cut the chatter." Talea said.

"Roger that, moving into position." Grissom complied.

Talea crouched to get herself ready to jump in after Grissom started his assualt. It was a simple act of bouncing up the walls of the stairwell and into the crowd of grunts above her. Suddenly, there was a series of foot falls above her. They were headed back towards the front of the ship.

"There's no one here now, but it looks like MacAllan tapped into the ship." It was heavily accented man who spoke. After a moment she heard his voice again, "Understood. A'right! Bugger's not here, we're moving out."

The IMC, they were bugging out. Whoever MacAllan was, Talea was certainly interested in who he was now. And he sure wasn't a simple defector now. Whether this was good or bad was above Talea's curiousity.

"Blackjack 1-1, are you seeing this?" The radioline crackled. Bartusky had tuned out most of the chatter as she sighted another Phantom. The aircraft could do vertical movements quite well but when it came to the Crows or Hornets, their speed and horizontal maneuvers easily outmatched them. What she had to look out for was Hornets descending on them from above. And so far, they'd faired pretty well.

"Go ahead 2-5." Captain Novak said.

"I'm seeing a mass exodus here. Is air traffic getting light in your airspace?"

"Affirmative. I think we got those Core boys whipped."

"Wahls, pair up with Czhek and make another landing while the air space is thin. Wahls? Wahls, come in." Captain Novak tried to raise one of his wing, "Goddamnit, he's not responding. Okay, Czhek, put your bird down. We'll provide overwatch."

"Yes, sir."

"Titan Pilot Golf-Sierra-6-2-6-7, be advised evac under way by your pos, over."

"Roger that." Bartusky heard Frisko's voice over the radio. He was still alive and they were still fighting. She thanked her god with a quick prayer, "Blackjack, Enemy Titan in the AO. I hope you don't feel like staying around too long."

Blackjack chuckled, "If you feel antsy son, you can always be a true pilot."

"Not on your life. 6-2-6-7 out."

"One of yours?" Novak asked. Bartusky knew he was talking to her.

"Yes, sir. Good friend."

"Aren't they all." He replied in a tone like he knew what she meant.

"2-5 on the deck, loading civies." Czhek updated Novak.

"Holst, maintain this altitude," Novak told his Copilot, "holding pattern at Oh-four-five degrees. Easy... easy..."

Bartusky swivled around in the turret. Things were looking good so far. She panned the turret around the clouds looking for any signs of IMC aircraft. Whatever happened, they seemed to have retreated in a hurry.

The Crow tilted up its wings allowing Bartusky to have a good view of the entire battlefield. The Odyssey was far off to her left and she could see the ex-IMC carrier collided into the side of the cliff. To her right she could Czhek's Crow on the gound a group of colonists being escorted into the ship by a squad of Grunts. In front of them was Frisko's Titan. She lingered on it. He was having a shoot out with another Titan but was on the cusp of victory as the Titan entered its danger state. Bartusky was happy at least in this way, she could watch over them. She smiled to herself and looked back to the sky.

A flash of light caught her eye and she glanced back just in time to see a blue beam slide into Frisko's titan, followed a second later by what looked like Chung's Titan fire a beam of his own back at it. Her mouth fell open as Frisko's Titan crackled and then fell to one knee.

"Frisko!" She shouted, she knew she was screaming but she couldn't stop herself.

"Did you follow it?" Novak asked.

"Negative, negative!" Holst responded.

Bartusky watched as Frisko's Titan slowly built up a blue light. A sign, the core was going to go nuclear. "Get out of there!" She pleaded.

"Holst, shut her up goddamnit. Czhek, you need to move. Now, damnit now."

Bartusky slapped a hand on the glass, her hand resting right next to where she could see Frisko's Titan. In a large cloud of flame and dust, Frisko's Titan exploded engulfing Czhek's Crow and all those around it. As the clouds rose into the air, Bartusky could feel the seat descend. Soon, all she could feel was her body doing deep convulsions as tears strew down her cheeks in ugly sobs.

Chung stood outside the hospital ward. From the doorway he could hear Talea and Bartusky yelling at each other. Talea was furious that she had disobeyed orders and ordered her off duty until hell froze over. Chung knew Talea would cool down eventually. Bartusky on the other hand was mad at Talea for having Frisko there in the first place and that it should have been the jumpie Vlocke there instead. He couldn't disagree with her. Having Frisko gone felt like a hole in the team. If there was a way to trade Vlocke to get Frisko back, Chung wasn't ashamed to say he would do it in a heart beat.

The door to the ward opened and Talea gave Chung a glance, "I hope you talk some sense into her. If she moves from this room..." Talea let words go and just kept walking. Chung gave a single nod and went through the doors.

"Ryn!" Chung said to her.

"Don't Ryn, me. Did you get the bastard?" Her voice was still angry from talking to Talea.

"Yeah. Yeah I did. Right through the cockpit."

"No." She snapped back, "Is. He. Dead?"

"Ryn..."

"Did you see the Titan blow? Was he still inside?"

"I..."

"Was he!?"

"Yes."

"He better have or I swear I'll fucking kill him myself. Do you hear me?"

"Look, maybe I should go?" Chung turned to leave the ward.

"No." Bartusky said suddenly. She curled her fists and then released them, "I'm sorry. Please, just stay for a little while."

"Do you want me to get you anything?" Chung offered.

"No. It's okay, just stay for a little, please."

"Sure, Ryn."

She sighed a little, " I hate that I told you my name."

"You did lose that bet."

Bartusky turned serious, "I should've been there."

"Was nothing you could've done."

"Still. I should've been there."

"Wouldn't have changed anything. When it's your time's up on the Frontier, your time is up."

She brought her fingers up to her lips and they sat there for a while in silence.

Once the team had debriefed, stripped out of their pilot uniforms, the pilots made their way to the Annapolis' nearest cantina. Each of them quickly settled into the their post mission habits. Carefully Vlocke rolled a little ball of plastic explosive over and over. It had to be the perfect size or else he would ruin it. After he gave it a couple more rolls he gently put the ball atop another larger ball of plastic explosive. He then stuck two blasting caps into the middle ball.

"What the fuck... is that?" Talea eyed the two orbed masses of plastic explosive now taking residence atop a cantina table.

"That," Vlocke said rolling a finer ball of plastic explosive from his satchel charge with a grin on his face, "Is a Du'ganh plastic man."

"...plastic man?" She said with her eyebrow raised.

"Plastic man."

"Looks like two pieces of shit," Talea laughed, "with two caps coming out."

"Trust me." Vlocke said back.

"Trust me he says." Talea chuckled.

Vlocke gave her a knowing wink and put the third final ball atop the second. He stood back admiring his work. He tweaked the top most head slightly so it would be a little bit straighter. Then stepped back to admire the little plastic man made of explosives.

Talea took a swig of grog before she flicked a bottle cap at the top of Vlocke's plastic man. Vlocke had a miserable expression on his face. There was a bottle cap the size of a small coin in the top of his plastic man and it drooped slowly before the top part rolled off onto the table resting near the edge.

Talea burst into uproarious laughter then shook her head and sipped her drink. Vlocke rested a hand over his heart.

"Plastic man, I barely knew ya." Then he detonated the rest in a sad little burst of an explosion. All that was left of it was a black stain on the cantina table. Someone nearby shouted out _Was that an explosion?_

Vlocke turned around and grabbed his bottle and took a drunk sip spilling some of the liquid into his mustache and mutton chops. He tried to rub it out with the back of his hand to no avail.

Talea got up and plucked the drink out of Vlocke's hands and started to down the rest of it.

Vlocke looked up confused, "Aww c'mon top..."

Talea got a cocky grin on her face, "Top? Yeah that sounds good. Come on you ape." She grabbed Vlocke by the cuff of his shirt and almost succeeded in dragging the him out of the chair.

"Whoa, hey!" Vlcoke stumbled up, doing his best not to fall over.

"Come on," Talea hugged him around his waist, "I'll give ya the bottle back when we're done!"

"No Ma'am," Vlocke slurred a little, "It's just... a little too soon for me I think."

Talea looked shocked and then threw her bangs back with her hand, "I understand." She gave him a grin, "Don't do anything stupid okay? You're a Shadow Runner now." And with that, she gave him a couple light taps on the cheek and walked out of the cantina.

At another corner of the cantina Chung and Grissom held up their cups in tribute. The two of them were so far gone that they now leaned on each other to stay upright. After Talea left the room, they went back to singing more Militia songs:

 _The Militia I hear, they need volunteers,_

 _'Cause they're all goin' to Demeter!_

 _So I'll pack up my bags, and I'll grab me some ass,_

 _Now we're all goin' to Demeter!_

 _Now I'm a Marauder, I kill who I oughta,_

 _So they'll all be dead on Demeter!_

The song was inspired by rumors that MacAllan had given some good intel on Demeter, the main fueling hub for the IMC. And Vlocke had to admit it was crazy brave to even try it. He personally just liked to blow shit up, so it didn't matter which way the solar wind blew as long as he heard a bomb go off. Not on the receiving side, of course.

He woozily wobbled over to where they were and crashed into an empty chair. His bottle landed awkwardly and spilled the amber liquid over the table. Grissom shrieked a little and Chung let out a deep bellowing laugh.

"This is my best hat fella!" Grissom said, checking the rims of the wide leather cover.

"Fuc' is it, any ways?" Vlocke regarded his hat, "Looks like it's made of Wrymback's testicles fer yer head."

"Fuck you man," Grissom drawled, "This here hat is a homage to my gran'dad who came out here."

"I'm deeply sorry, that your granddad liked to wear testicles on his head." Vlocke tittered.

"I will put you on the deck if you disrespect my hat one more time." Grissom threatened him.

"Hey," Chung waved a hand between them, "ice it guys, Vlocke you happen to be in the presence of two men who survived nearly dying. How about some pre-mortem respect?" Chung flashed him a huge grin.

"Aye, I hear that!" Vlocke picked his empty bottle up for a toast.

"So tell me my man," Chung said after they finished their toast pulling his arm off of Grissom for the steady support of the table, "You've been on two ops with us now, how do we compare?"

Before Vlocke could answer, Grissom shot his hand in front of Chung, "Whoa man, Vlocke here may have a caterpillar on his head for hair but he told me that'd he'd rather not talk about it."

"If it's all the same to you mate, I'd like to keep it that way." Vlocke shook his empty bottle studying the last traces of alcohol. His face hardened and stared at no real place in particular, "How do you compare family?"

Abruptly he got up from his seat, his chair tilting over and hitting the floor. For an instant he was on the dropship again, Tyrena's lifeless body on the deck of the dropship. A wave of emotion that he didn't understand or even like began to well up in him, panic, anger, dread all at once as if fighting to be the first to burst out of him. In a desperate lunge for control Vlocke threw a punch as hard as he could into whatever was next to him.

The grunt slammed into the table his head bouncing off with a thump. The surprised and very pissed off grunt, that looked familiar to Vlocke but he couldn't place him. The swell of terror subside and Vlocke chuckled to himself, clearly very relieved of having the feeling gone.

"Fucking Pilots!" The mad grunt shoved him back into the table where Chung and Grissom were still seated causing him to careen awkwardly off the table. Grissom in mid drink had the lid knock his tooth and send grog up his nose and onto his granddad's hat.

Chung looked up very happy, "I love this guy!" before he hurled himself at the grunt in a flying tackle. Grissom shouted at them both about how this was his best hat and how irreplaceable it was. Vlocke stared up at the ceiling content that he no longer felt anything. Numbness was good.

"Hot damn, this intel is a gold mine, Mac!" Bish sat with his laptop going over all the files again. Sarah, MacAllan, and him were all sitting in the command center of the Annapolis, "But kicking the IMC out of the Frontier? That's just impossible."

"Wrong word Bish. This scenario can work, I know it. And so does Graves."

"Yeah? How?"

"Let's just say once upon a time, we worked it out together."

Bish looked up at Sarah with a large Grin on his face, "Why are we taking orders from this guy, Sarah? Well, he just uploaded more intel than we've grabbed in the past year. I think we might just have a chance of taking the fight back to the IMC."

"That's not good enough," Sarah said to MacAllan, "This intel isn't good if we don't have the resources to pull it off."

"Graves once told me we could change the IMC from the inside, but it's only gotten worse. After the massacre today, I'll do everything I can to get back at the IMC."

"Here's an idea," Bish flipped his laptop around revealing the aging Kodai Engineer, "Mr. Sarakawa, meet General MacAllan. Mac, tell our friend here what the IMC do on undisclosed worlds."

"Ah, James MacAllan, I though you were dead." The Head of RnD said to MacAllan.

"There's many things the IMC would have you believe. Trust me, when I finish here, I think you'll find many ways to repay my friends."

It was a long conversation but Bish thought that it went very well. MacAllan was able to reinstate their support with Kodai industries in return for mining rights on Haven as well as several corporate secrets, which MacAllan was more than happy to share. Sarah still had her reservations but Bish could tell Sarah was happy with having parts again. There were now something akin to 18th century privateers, which was a funny thought. Bish stretched his arms and gave his hands a good crack.

"So Mac, call the shot. Where to next?"

MacAllan looked up from the tactical map, "Angel City."


	6. Chapter 3B: Relics From The Past

Unknown System

Planet Troy

March 8th , 1500

The shower was steamy as usual in the victory barracks of Dragon Platoon. The continuous winners of Whitehead's battle games came here after each battle to celebrate and decompress from the bloody battles they would soon go on to fight on the Frontier.

Mayumi brought her leg up onto the bench and covered her leg with shaving gel. It was her after battle ritual. A way to metaphorically and physically clean off the stress from the battlefield. She did her best to do; careful, clean, and even strokes up her leg. The process didn't have to be slow but she wanted it that way. Each time she came away alive, she wanted to capture the full beauty of life.

"I once saw a man fall down in tears and praise God that he was alive. But you, you shave your legs as slow as you possibly can. Why, who could possibly know?"

"If I was dead, I couldn't possibly take this long to shave my legs, could I?"

Nimr chuckled lightly and soft, "That is- a good argument. And now I know." He stepped into the stall taking care not to bump her. She finished her stroke and nodded for him to come and embrace her. He did so, quickly and gently both of his hands sliding around her waist. She felt the warmth of his body against hers and felt a part of herself melt into him.

He waited until she finished her stroke before he spoke again, "Perhaps maybe, I should shave my legs after battle?"

"Mmm, I would like that." She gave him a quick kiss under his jaw and felt him stiffen behind her. His hair was dark and wavy reaching to just above his shoulders. His beard hadn't been trimmed for a few days and was getting prickly.

"I would shave my eyebrows if it made your face glow."

She almost burst out laughing and covered her mouth with her free hand. He was chuckling too and bent down to kiss her on her collar bone. When she had recovered herself she placed a hand on her chest trying to calm her breathing, "Please, please don't. How would I ever read your face?"

It was strange to be so familiar with someone when all around them there was so much death and misery. That was the hidden duality of Whitehead. You could revel with who ever you wanted just so long as you were able to kill them the next day. Despite it all, Nimr and her had made this one beautiful thing. Mayumi wasn't sure if that made them better or worse than the others. That perhaps because of this thing there was something wrong about them.

"You've never need to read my face," he nestled her jaw with his nose, "only my heart." And with that they broke into hurried action, lest someone interrupt their precious moment. It wasn't long but both were quite refreshed afterward. They dressed in smiles and longing looks with furtive glances to the entrance to see they had been caught.

Nimr spoke first breaking the silence, "The FFAs will start soon." It was the last collective effort to get the best of the best at Whitehead. Those left would fend for themselves against the other school pilots to get the highest 2% ranking that would form the small graduating class of perfect pilots and the grim 98% mortality rate.

"Don't talk about it." She said tying the sleeves of her pilot suit around her waist. It was bound to come up eventually but why now? Couldn't they live the lie just a little longer?

"You know we have to." He said determined.

"No, we don't. I already know what you're going to say. We can both get through it."

Nimr clicked his tongue softly, "No, I don't think so."

"Yes, this is the best time. We're not on any team! We can decide which opponents to engage."

"Yes, that's why we won't both make it."

"You're asking me to kill you." She barely whispered.

"I'm asking you to live." He said meeting her steely gaze softly.

In that moment, she was both furious and envious of his peaceful acceptance of all this. She had known he would say this to her. Brought together by their belief of a better future for the Core Worlds after the devastating Titan Wars had shattered both the Sol and Tau Ceti systems alike. They had talked about the devastation back on each other's home world and the hope the Frontier seemed to offer.

Each successive mission however seemed to dim Nimr's soul. He was wholly prepared to kill terrorists that selfishly wanted life saving materials from two desperate systems but people he had met and learned to love was more than he could bear. It wasn't before long that she was trying to protect what was left of the beautiful side of him. They were such a subtle shade apart, that no outside person could've known the difference. They knew, and it was such a huge chasm that she wasn't willing to acknowledge existed, even now when she stood on the edge of it, perilously about to fall in.

She turned away from him and took a few steps, her lips quivering in dread. Mayumi was hoping she'd hear his steps and feel his arms around her. His warmth comforting her and perhaps he would say it was all some disturbing joke to see if she ever doubted him. But he didn't...

She turned. He was falling. His beautiful curly black hair rising as if the ground had pushed him. His eyes watching her contently. His face calm and peaceful. She was paralyzed by the unreality of the sight before her. His face, she could see his face. All she could see was his face staring back at her. Mayumi broke into tears and sobbed. She had repressed it for so long that it had almost felt that it wasn't real but some strange distant unreal dream. It would've been better for it to have been a dream, atleast then she could've woken from it. But all it had took was for Blisk to mention his name and every detail came back to her.

"You're like a cat, you know that?" Blisk remarked as Grendel reentered the colony. The little kid was with him and internally Grendel winced but was also displeased. He thought he was doing something that Blisk would approve of, not chastise him for it. It would pass.

Growing up, Grendel had ignored the kids that had teased him, bullied him, ostracized him. They never mattered for long. Their minds never saw the larger picture. The greater war as he saw it, lay when your opponent was no longer able to oppose you. It wasn't until he entered Whitehead, that his particular strategy was considered legal. That suited him perfectly. The underlying knowledge that what he had to do was encouraged by the IMC made working for them agreeable. Blisk was proof of that. Results were what truly mattered and what better result than full victory?

"Found him outside the operation perimeter." Grendel reported.

"Good. Fine. Vice-Admiral Graves will want to see him when he touches down."

"The Vice-Admiral is coming here?"

"Aye. We're preparing a command post here for the time being." Blisk looked at the kid and then back up at Grendel, "Didn't know you had a heart after all." Blisk chuckled and flipped his knife around his hand and then sheathed it.

The kid moved away a little and Grendel grabbed him forcibly by the collar and moved him back, "What should I do with the kid?"

"He's your baggage for now." Blisk grinned as he pushed off the wall he was leaning on.

Grendel exhaled through his nostrils, "Come on."

"Hey! Where are we going?" The kid whined.

"Quiet," Grendel hissed, "Okay?"

"Hey that's the garage! Uncle Benji! Uncle Benji are you there?"

Grendel yanked on the kid's collar again, "What is wrong with you? Can't you follow orders?"

"Why can't I look for my uncle? Why are you being so mean? What kind of rescue is this?"

"The quiet kind."

"The Militia aren't here, we're safe. So why do I have to be quiet?"

Grendel whirled the kid in front of him and gripped both his shoulders tightly and looked him dead in the eyes. For moment, Grendel had a half thought that this is was how he killed most men, face to face. Why did he have to go soft now? "Listen closely, this is still an active war zone. There could be insurgents anywhere still. Until the perimeter is secure its better if you just kept quiet." Gendel hated lying more but at least this was easier. White lies were just half-truths. A lot of that in the IMC already.

"I still don't understand why you're being so-"

Grendel just glared at the kid from inside his helmet and made a hush motion. It was then that Grendel made an uncomfortable observation. Strewn about where several Militia grunts in various states of dismemberment and disarray. You stupid fucking idiot. Grendel cursed himself. What a perfect idea bringing a kid back here, where he could see all his comrades murdered. The normally under control pilot began to feel uncomfortable. Perhaps he could find a place for the kid to sit while they waited for Vice Admiral Graves to arrive. Which would hopefully be soon.

They turned a corner around the garage towards the west end of the colony which had seen the least of the fighting. Above them was a tall landing pad that hadn't seen any use. The grass here wasn't trampled which gave Grendel comfort again. They had passed the garage and Grendel was hopeful that they had cleared the last of it. They reached the next building and he lead the kid to a rock to sit.

"Okay, we'll wait here for a little." Grendel explained.

The kid exhaled loudly and put his hands under his chin. Grendel looked down at him and just stood a small distance away. "Are we just gonna sit here?"

"Yes."

"For how long?"

"Until relieved."

"When will that happen?"

"When it happens."

The kid was silent for a little then asked in a quiet voice, "Why would the Militia kill them?"

Mayumi looked up from her knees as she heard footsteps approach her. It was Grendel and a small boy. Mayumi almost leapt up to wrench the kid from him but she was already drained from Blisk stirring up her past.

"Five, can I leave this kid with you? I have better things to do other than babysitting."

Mayumi turned her head away, "Sure."

"Sit here kid, Five likes to sit too."

Mayumi scoffed. The kid shuffled for a bit before he tentatively sat down. She wasn't sure what to say to this kid. Should she apologize for everything and all the people they killed? Where did he hide during the whole battle? Where was his family? The good thing was he was away from Grendel. She wasn't positive that he wouldn't kill a civilian if asked. It was some sort of cosmic joke, to give her a kid to watch after all that shit that just happened.

She was sure she had put her horrible past behind her. Blisk going and drudging it up at a time like this was insane. He'd divided the team, put her at odds with the enemy all for what; Petty revenge? Mayumi tightened up, creating no illusion that she wanted to become a ball. She was a pilot. She was better than this. She was the pinnacle of IMC training and technology, a triple threat of skills that made her one of the most lethal weapons in the galaxy. She had to be better than this for Nimr. Mayumi took in a deep breath and exhaled.

She looked over at the kid, who was sitting one arm resting on his knee. His gaze resting solidly on the patch of grass before him.

"What's you name?" Mayumi asked as friendly as she could manage. It still came out somewhat hoarse as her throat was still tight and she quickly cleared her throat.

"Russel." The kid replied simply. He stared at the dirt for a moment longer, "What's yours?"

"Titan Pilot First Class Mayumi Sato." She tried informally but it came with a hint of crispness in her voice. It was sort of showing off but kids liked that didn't they? Had to be a better introduction than what Grendel had given Russel. At least this way she could show him what a true IMC Pilot was like.

"First class," Russel inquired, "Is that the highest or the starting point?"

Well Phrased. The kid's inquisitive. Mayumi thought. "The starting point, I just finished Pilot Training."

"What's it like?" Russel asked, his voice rising excitedly.

Mayumi started, she saw a flash of Nimr on his bunk, book in hand, his smile bright. Calming herself, she formed her sentence to sound as informational as possible, "Well, Whitehead is the proving ground for all pilots seeking to prove themselves as best of the best. It has live fire exercises and also comprehensive survival skill courses designed to aquatint pilots with all terrain survival."

"Uh, it sounds like a lot of work." Russel said.

Mayumi didn't know what to say to that. She let her eyes wander about the colony around her. There was no way that she would tell this kid about all the horrible things that went on at Whitehead. Even she didn't want to remember half of what it took to get her here. The humid days where the training ground was covered in smoke and blood. Trainees ripped from their Titans all in the name of conditioning future Pilots from being spooked from their first combat. It had worked too well.

Mayumi forced herself to come back. She looked at Russel, who was still waiting for an answer. If only CQB helmets came with a face plates, then at least she could hide her expression. "Yeah um," she mumbled, "It was."

"My uncle was a pilot," Russel pointed out, "He used his jump kit to help build the tram."

"The tram?" Mayumi asked.

"We were taking apart the Odyssey to help build this colony."

"That's impressive."

"Did you know, there's a manual that's actually was written just for scenarios like this!" Russel declared excitedly, "That the ship is meant to come apart and make livable housing!"

"Wow." She said trying to feign interest, it wasn't like she was forced to read every manual of arms during basic and Pilot Training. Still it was keeping Russel from thinking about the massacre and that was important.

"Yeah! And the main gun we turned into a defense turret to keep the dragons away!"

"The dragons?"

"Yeah. That's what I call them. They're really aggressive hunters but really dumb up close. Al made it look easy this... this..." Russel's voice broke a little and he sniffled a little.

Mayumi flinched seeing the upcoming stream of tears and panicked, "Hey- hey, ya know, you're still alive. Would he want to see you in tears?"

Russ made a deep moist sniff and wiped his nose, "H- he just told me to run. So I ran but I didn't know where to go. I... where should I go?"

"With us of course." Mayumi said before Russ could say anything else. I mean what else would happen?

"That's..." He sighed in acquiescence.

"Colony secured," Blisk's voice cut in, "All Titan Pilots and extra cargo report back to the DZ. Stand by for Vice-Admiral Graves."

"I am scanning the wreckage of the ship. Registered as the odyssey. Reported lost to mutiny under your command, Vice Admiral." Spyglass buzzed in Graves' ear.

"I'm well aware of the history of the ship," Graves responded annoyed, though more in reality he was more disturbed by the days events then he cared to admit, "and I know who's responsible for its present condition. What I want to know is how it got here." The universe had a funny way of sneaking up on you. One second you're the closest to victory in two years and the next second you run into a ghost.

"It was only a matter of time." Graves' said out loud, peering out the window towards the wreckage of the Odyssey lingering in the distance. "Spyglass, what's the status on the ground?"

"The colony is secured Vice-Admiral. The field test of the new Spectre Mobile Combat Troops shows promise. In addition, we suffered light causalities and no Titan Pilot losses. There is, however, two related incidents that need to be resolved on your arrival."

"Meaning?"

"Squad Leader Ramirez's position is pending demotion per Sergeant Blisk's recommendation. Second, there is a matter of a civilian that requires your attention."

"The Titan Pilot is Blisk's jurisdiction, he has my authority to do as he likes. Explain this civilian matter."

"Squad Sniper Marzenko found a child along the colony perimeter, there is concern of how to resolve the issue."

"A child? Are they injured?"

"Negative, Vice-Admiral, they're..." Spyglass paused for a moment, "incognizant of the situation."

"Atten-tion!" Blisk barked as Vice-Admiral Graves departed the Goblin Dropship. The squad of Titan pilots snapped to attention. Winter could see the Vice-Admiral asses the situation as his eyes cast about the ruins and wreckage.

"Status?" Graves asked.

"Sir," Blisk stepped forward, "Perimeter secured, awaiting your orders."

Graves nodded, "Pilots, today may be one of the last few days of the war. The wreckage in the distance is a bygone of a former era. It contains the remaining terrorists as well as wanted Mutineer James McAllan. For the capture of his person is worth 100,000 credits immediately upon confirmation.

"We will engage the Militia in a joint pincer attack. Pilots will be stationed here on the ground to provide Titan support in artillery mode. While we engage them from the air. Once, we have significantly cleared the site, we will then engage all units on the ground. Understood?"

"Sir, yes sir." Came the resounding answer from both Pilots and Grunts on the ground.

"Very good. All units see your Squad Leader for individual assignments. Dismissed."

Blisk stood back for a second, nonchalantly picking dirt from his finger nails with his knife.

"Seargent Blisk, I was informed of a civilian taken prisoner. Explain."

"They're around the colony somewhere. Pilot Marzenko picked 'im up around the outer perimeter. Apparently, the kid has no idea what 'appened, thinks we're rescue." Blisk chuckled.

Graves let out a sigh, "We can take them to a reeducation facility once the mission is complete here."

"Will you be taking control then, eh?"

"I am, Sergeant."

"Then about the Pilot, Sir."

"I'll leave that matter to your judgement. That's what your here for isn't it?"

"Very good, sir." Blisk made a mock bow and left.

"Good news, sweetheart!" Ramirez turned to face Blisk. The mercenary tucked his knife back into his scabbard. Ramirez was sure that Blisk played with his knife more than any other part of himself. "You've been reassigned."

Ramirez's muscles tightened and he tried to keep his face from being too pissed. Blisk had already chewed him out earlier threatening to demote him. Judging from Blisk's jubilant expression, it looks like Graves authorized the request. Fuck! Ramirez cursed internally but forced himself to speak, "Yes, Sir!"

"You're gonna love it. I'm attaching you as squad leader of a bunch of Grunts. A real lot of heroes." Blisk chuckled.

"Mayumi!" Winter walked over with her helmet tucked under her arm.

"Two." Mayumi replied tucking ammo into the magazine pouches.

"Actually, it's one now," Winter said as she hoisted her hemlock against her shoulder, "Pilot Ramirez was demoted."

"Yes, Ma'am." Mayumi saluted.

Grendel's head piqued up. His mask was off revealing his grim and boney face. Mayumi noted his voice wasn't nearly as raspy as his helmet made him sound, "Hm. Blisk doesn't abide failure."

"And I don't either." Winters affirmed, "So let's get one thing straight from this point onwards. Do as I say, when I say it. No, rogue missions from Blisk. No, stalking off on your own. Understood?"

"But Blisk..." Mayumi started

Winters cut her off, "Whatever he wants, he can go through me. The fact of the matter is, the three of us survived Whitehead and therefore we know what it takes to survive."

Incoming!

The three of them turned to see an approach of Crows flying in close to the ground. All of them headed straight towards them.

"Team, get into your Titans now." Winters ordered.

Explosions and the high whir of the chaingun ripped through the colony. Mayumi made a made dash to her Stryder Titan. She jumped onto a wall using her free hand to steady herself as she ran before leaping off and baseball sliding on the earth just under her Titan. Above her, the Styder had caught a missile in it's vortex shield along with a large array of bullets before sending them back. Mayumi grabbed her Titan's arm and it gently lifted her into the cockpit.

As the screen booted up, Mayumi could see missiles streak across the colony towards Winters' Titan. Winters dodged the missile deftly in her Atlas Titan and it careened into a building sending shards of the structure helplessly into the sky.

"Stand fast!" Ramirez shouted at his squad of terrified Grunts. The fearful Grunts ran and tripped over themselves trying to get away from the salvos above. It was a shitshow. How could he be so humiliated this way? Losing command was humiliating, loss of Pilot status was humiliating, being in command of Grunts was humiliating, but above all their reactions to combat was worse. He could feel Blisk's jeers and sniggers tug gently at the back of his mind gnawing at him.

A passing strike of a Crow tore up tuffs of dirt and one of Ramirez's Grunts. The man spun throwing his weapon into the air. Ramirez took a knee and yelled again into his headset, "Archers! Bring up Archers! Take those birds down!"

"You heard him!" A Grunt stood fast and pulled up the shoulder mounted launcher. A couple puffs of smoke ignited behind him and the smoke trails followed in the wake of the next couple of Crows. Another Grunt next to Ramirez was rocked from the earth and his Archer landed next to Ramirez.

The former Pilot grabbed it and sprinted to cover. He slid into a crater, parts of which were still smoldering and a fired another rocket. "Find cover and focus fire on those Crows!" Ramirez relayed another order. The ground shook and his ear already knew who it was. He turned to see Grendel's Ogre plant itself in the ground and the Railgun's barrel grew bright orange.

Crack! Grendel had timed it perfectly and the railgun clipped the Crow just in its rear tail wings. It didn't take major damage but the rail had slipped the D-CSAR. There was another bright light and Grendel saw that Mayumi's Titan engulfed in flames. It had sustained major damage and flames licked the air but it was still standing. The Crows made a final pass and soon slipped away. Close in behind them a squadron of Phantoms stormed in from their slipspace and headed towards the large carrier wreck in the distance.

Grendel knew their reaction time was good but that was the nature of an ambush. The irony was that Ramirez's was right to push as hard as he did just an hour ago but his gambit had failed. Now, Grendel could feel the sway of the battlefield change. Their was fight still in the Militia and even when this pressed they were still able to launch sneak attacks. The timing of their departure was too accurate even for Grendel to consider it chance. MacAllan. He mulled the name over in his head. Must remember to research that name in the archive.

"Team, form up on my position." Winter's voice crackled over the radio. There was seriousness in her voice, much more than usual. Bad news.

"Please don't put me on a team with that snail eater." A thin brunette pilot whined shaking back a strand of hair from her face.

"Oh do not worry, rosbif, I think I will never see you after zis. A Titan will smash you into road kill."

"Not bloody likely. It has a better chance of landing on your nose."

Mayumi walked up towards the South-East gate where they had initially landed at the Colony. Just beyond the thin wall was the field of corpses. She tried to shake the thought. Grendel was already there and she could see the visible pains of annoyance he had already. Good. Let him suffer a little. Mayumi grinned to herself. Winters turned around from cleaning off her Hemlock rifle and deposited the rag back into a pouch.

"Took your time, Three." Winters said.

Mayumi gave it a thought for a moment before she understood, "New additions?"

"Shared the same shuttle from Demeter," Winters said. She stepped back a pace , "Alright listen up! Dax, Harper will deploy in Artillery mode and target the ship. Grendel, you'll stay in reserve and target enemy Titans that threaten their position. When the target is sufficiently softened, Mayumi and I will roll in and secure the ground.

"Mayumi, here." Winters unholstered a Smart Pistol and flipped it around in her hand offering Mayumi the grip. "Right, for the duration of the current mission, we'll go by code designations, I'm one, Grendel is Two, Mayumi is Three, Dax is Four, and Harper is Five."

Harper scoffed.

Winters turned ominously in Harper's direction. "Any questions?" No one moved, "Good. Let's go."

Ramirez and his new team of Grunts had loaded into a Goblin. He stood at the entrance his squad in a double stack in front him. Their silver and white uniforms were pressed and neat. Their rifles glinted. It was something that Ramirez had never noticed before. So many raw recruits were here on the frontier. All in the name of the IMC. He was so used to being the big dog that he never noticed the ants before. But even a dog among ants is still a dog. No matter what happened to him, he was still better than all of them.

A smile crept up on his face. "Listen up shit for brains! Some of you are probably wondering why a pilot is leading you today? Well, it's because we're so badass that even we need a new challenge. So today, I will be leading all of you into the meat grinder. And if by the grace of god you live today, you too, will be one step closer to becoming Pilot! Copy?"

Sir, yes sir!

"I said, who wants to be a Pilot!?" Ramirez shouted.

Sir, yes Sir! The Grunts replied louder.

"Bullshit, if that's the loudest you got, you don't have what it takes!"

SIR, YES SIR!

"That's more fucking like it! Door ramp up!" Ramirez turned around to face the dropship door ramp up. Blisk was standing there, just outside the door. A smirk on his face.

"Rousing speech."

They had set up just inside max launching range for their Titans Quad Rocket launchers. The whole mission was as safe as it could get. Winters would be bored by it but nothing about it could go incredibly wrong. The remaining Militia pilots were trapped with the rest of the civilians on that derelict ship, as well as that Ex-IMC MacAllan. Putting troops on the deck in that corner was bound to create more casualties and in her team's weaken state and under new command, this was an excellent idea in her opinion.

Winters flexed her hand and resumed holding the control stick. Her Titan Panzer had to refitted with Quad Rockets instead of her usual 40 mm cannon. They were heavier than the weight of the 40 mil and it was tugging on the stick just a tad more than she was acutely used to.

"Warhound one, this is Zeus. Standby for Artillery deployment." Graves' voice crackled in Winters' ear.

"Warhound Copies. Standing by. All Warhounds stand by for Artillery deployment."

"D'accord."

"Roger."

"Warhound Two is in position." Grendel called in.

"Three standing by." The whine of the Goblin's turbines could be heard over the radio.

"Four, Five plot artillery coordinates." Winter ordered.

"Coordinates locked in. Zones confirmed."

"Oui. Zones affirmative."

"Warhound One, deploy batteries and begin suppression." Graves ordered.

"Confirmed. All Quad units deploy and suppress." Winters relayed the order.

Panzer jammed the Quad Launcher into the earth, its lethal barrels angled towards the Odyssey. As soon as the motion was done, the launcher began firing. It's missiles arching upwards into the sky. A few moments later the cliffside lit up with a mixture of bright orange balls and huge brown stacks shooting into the sky.

Winter flexed her hand while her Titan reloaded the Quad Launcher. Her finger was getting stiff from just pulling the trigger while the artillery program plotted automated trajectories. She glanced at the readouts making sure the barrel temperatures were staying within acceptable ranges.

"One, this is Two over."

"Go ahead." She replied to Grendel.

"Possible warpfall signature on the right artillery zone."

"Can you verify?"

"Not with the smoke from this range. Too much interference."

"We should be outside of maximum firing range. Keep an eye on it."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Winter resumed firing, "Four, five, possible enemy Titan in the AO. If you see it call it out to Grendel."

"Nothing so far." Harper responded.

"The smoke est trop epaisse." Dax complained, "Attende, I think I see something."

"What do you see?" Winter asked.

Before a reply could be a sent a blue beam burst through the smoke to the right of Winters' position. There was the quick renting of metal as the beam bore and burst an explosive hole through Dax's Titan. Winters paused from firing and turned towards her squadmate. Most of the Titan's left side was still there but was a crescent circle of what hadn' been blown away. If was if a huge mouth had just taken a bite of him. The thin frame of the Stryder Titan stood feebly before a leg-joint cracked and the wreck fell over in two halves.

"Grendel, tell me you have eyes on." Winter demanded.

"I'm working on it." Came the strained reply.

"I thought you said we were out of range!" Harper cried.

"Maintain fire," Winter ordered, "This is Warhound One," Winter spoke into the mike with a detached voice, "We're receiving enemy Titan fire from the AO. One friendly down. I repeat, friendly unit KIA."

"Two, tracking target." Grendel reported.

"Harper, move to a sweep pattern. Keep him from using cover. Push him back away from the Odyssey!"

"R-roger."

Grendel stalked closer to the cliffs under the Odyssey. He had chosen the Ogre chassis for its high durability and stable support platform. Now it's bulkiness was hindering him in the forest. The Atlas Titan that had shot Four had boosted towards the Odyssey somewhere near the main loading bay. From memory he noted the four main loading doors of an IMC carrier mentally tried to determine which was the best place to position himself to over see them.

Next, he was trying to predict the next target of the enemy sniper. Winters was attacking the main hulk with her zone, which by necessity would mean he should target her first. Instead he shot at Four. Which probably meant he was attacking targets of opportunity. Thus if he was inside the main hull of the carrier, his best vantage point would be of Five's position. Accommodating for angle and force, his shot should be placed just about...

CRACK!

A bar of blue light streamed out from where he was pointing and slammed into Five's Titan. From his peripheral, he could see the shot had gone high and punched a hole through the Titan's right hand side. Five was lucky, her Titan's body shield mostly deflected the damage. Well, if she was still alive.

Grendel cursed himself for the bulkier immobile Titan and punched a round about where he was looking at earlier. It's possible he could get pay back at least. "Winters' it's time we fell back."

"Damnit! Fine, Warhound pulling back." Winters said infuriated.

"Waaait!" A panicked voice called out.

Five. Grendel told himself. She must've ejected at the last second. Lucky break. Grendel kept himself fixed on the wreck looking for any signs of another Titan barrel aiming for him. On the radio he could hear the sound of wind and mic static. Five must've left her mic on.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shiiit!"

Friendly Pilot has landed on the hull. Grendel's Titan informed him. "This is Warhound Two with friendly pilot. Returning to base."

"Warhound Two," Graves said, "Maintain your position. Friendly air is inbound, screen for enemy Titans, over."

"Understood, Zeus. Warhound two, out." Grendel pounded on the side of his cockpit, "Off, Five."

"Bollocks!" She said.

Friendly Pilot has left the hull.

"Good." Grendel muttered to himself.

"We're taking some hits." The Goblin Pilot yelled over the intercom as the dropship rocked and shuddered. "DZ in ten seconds!"

"You and you! Grab the cables, standby, ten seconds!" Ramirez called out. Just ahead of them, a blue shaft blurred and smashed into the wreck of the Odyssey sending debris flying and a Militiaman in a flaming arc.

"DZ in five!" The Goblin Pilot shouted.

"Doors open!" Ramirez ordered. All the main cargo bay doors in the dropship opened up. Ramirez saw the ramp drop and had the irresistible urge to jump from it.

"Mark."

"Go, go, go!" Ramirez shouted out to his squad from the center of the Goblin. Each of the Grunts grabbed a cable and zip-lined down to the surface below. Each time one of them left the cargo bay Ramirez called; One out, two out, three out out! Until each of his seven soldiers had left the Goblin. Then he grabbed one nearest the ramp and zipped to the ground, then into his mic to the Goblin Pilot said, "Eight out, all clear."

"Roger, this is Viper 3-2, all troops on the deck. Returning to IMS Sentinel." The cables detached from the Goblin and plummeted to the ground. The heat from the exhaust dissipated from Ramirez's shoulders and back as the dropship warped back to orbit. Before him was a quasi-establishment of makeshift houses and ramps. Everywhere were craters and holes in the structures from the earlier bombardment from his team. Former team, he had to remind himself. His face grew warm with anger as he heard that Winters was put in charge of his squad.

His new team of Grunts had assembled in a tight group behind some debris: a twisted piece of metal that was once a wall. Ramirez quick stepped over to them and hunkered down in front of them. He pulled up his wristcom and displayed the holographic map. It showed the satellite imagery of the odyssey wreck and their sector to clear.

"Alright squad, listen up. We have to clear this side of the Odyssey of Militia terrorists." Ramirez pointed up the ridge towards a building. "We'll move in two squads of four and leap frog up through the ridge. Then stack up and breach the buildings. Clear?"

"Yes sir!" The Grunts assented.

"Danvers, Brown, Applegate, with me. The rest of you form up on Henshaw. Let's go!"

The two groups of four made their way up the slope. Above them, Phantoms and Hornets engaged in a intricate dance of dogfighting. The streaks of their engines could be seen overhead as they sped by and a stray missile would collide into the earth.

"To think that everyone from this carrier set up home here." Applegate remarked.

"Home away from the war? That's the coward's way out!" Danvers replied.

"Graves is taking this MacAllan guy very personally!" Brown added, nodding his head towards the huge numbers of craters.

"I don't blame him!" Danvers piped up again, "A close colleague. Someone he trusts. Someone you'd die for completely betrays you. I'd say that makes it personal."

"Cut the chatter!" Ramirez hissed. At that moment, a phantom screamed into the side of hill before them. Sending a large jagged piece of debris past Danvers and nearly severed Brown in half at the shoulder.

"Likes ants at a picnic." Ramirez muttered to himself. Brown was dead almost immediately but one of the Grunts was trying to triage the wound and prep him for medivac. It was a sad sight and Ramirez had half a mind to put a bullet in the poor Grunt's head to end it faster. "Come on, we have to keep moving!" He urged them onwards, "Leave him."

The whole mountain side shook and rumbled. Some of the Grunts swayed and stumbled to catch themselves and Ramirez's footing threatened once or twice to fail him but they made it. They stacked up in good order with Henshaw's squad covering their six. They tossed an arc grenade through the entry way.

Applegate went in first and was struck by small arms fire. Ramirez caught him as he fell and shuffled sideways into a stairwell and resting the soldier on the stairs. Danvers returned fire, crouching behind a set of equipment.

"This is epsilon 7-1," Ramirez relayed to command, "I have two troopers down, one severely wounded. We have engaged the Militia. Coordinates, Local Grid, Zeta-Zero-Eight. Do you copy, over?"

"Understood," A thick Irish accent replied, "Sending in additional Spectres to your grid."

"Negative, negative. I need Pilot support." Ramirez insisted.

"All Pilots are under command of Sergeant Blisk unless authorized, 7-1."

"Don't worry Sarge, these Militia can barely shoot." Danvers chuckled, slapping another mag into his carbine.

"Yeah, let's show these traitors how the IMC deals out justice!" Another Grunt chimed in. Ramirez had to admit they had guts.

"Fine then. Think you can keep up?" Ramirez boasted. He popped around the corner and quickly sighted a Militia rifleman and put a tight group of rounds in his upper chest. The terrorist lurched back on the ground. "See if you can do that Danvers. 'Cause I don't think Applegate would agree with you."

"You heard him!" Danvers yelled. The Grunts put suppressive fire down the hall. Henshaw's group advanced up to the stairwell. Ramirez tapped henshaw on his shoulder and pointed up the stairwell. Henshaw nodded and tapped a Grunt on the shoulder and nodded back to Ramirez. The Grunt nodded and fell in behind Ramirez as their squad leader moved up the stairs.

The upstairs floor was spartan. It was decorated with basic but practical furniture and looked to be a break room of sorts. The coffee cups were still there. Ramirez moved to the open window and looked down the side of the building. Some length down the building was an open hatch. It was just about where the Militia were holding the corridor.

"You. What's your name?" Ramirez asked.

"Darrows, sir."

"Darrows, on the count of three, toss a grenade into that hole. Got it?"

"Yes, sir!"

"One." Ramirez produced a grenade from a pouch as did Darrows.

"Two." Ramirez judged the distance and his throw in his head and readied his hand to pull the pin.

"Thr-" Ramirez started but then saw a green Atlas pull into view. Ramirez pulled his pin and threw it instead at the Titan. "Titan! Get back!"

Darrows hesitated and moved to run but the chaingun ripped through his chest and legs. Ramirez was already on the floor crawling, trying to be as low as possible to avoid being hit. Suddenly, Darrow's body collapsed onto his leg with the sound of something clinking. Ramirez fought to free his leg from what he was sure was Darrows' grenade now at his feet. When he couldn't kick free from his shoe being stuck in Darrows' chest cavity, he just covered his head and prayed to big man in the sky.

Minutes went by with what felt like years. Ramirez's heart was beating inside his throat and he couldn't swallow. When finally he was sure that he wasn't going to paint the walls, he glanced around. Ramirez twisted and lifted up Darrows' body and pulled his leg free with a sticky sucking noise. He glanced about the room looking for whatever made the noise but didn't see anything immediately. Ramirez chalked it up to good luck.

He shook his leg to get rid of some of the gore and then crouched back to the stairs. Henshaw and Danvers were still engaged in the firefight. Though the return fire had noticeably slackened. Henshaw turned his head to Ramirez, "Good grenade sir, we got 'em good!"

Ramirez simply nodded.

"Where's Darrows, sir?"

"Titan got him."

"Shit. Damn Militia!"

"We need to keep moving down this corridor and secure the rest of the building."

The Grunts reformed their squad with Danvers in front and Ramirez bringing up the rear. They had advanced some ten feet when Danvers twisted facing a window and his mouth made a noise but the rest was drowned out by a hail of gunfire. The Titan was back.

"Back! Back!" Henshaw yelled. Henshaw had turned to retreat down the corridor when an Atlas Titan's fist smashed him to a pulp. The thin layer of viscera splashed Ramirez and he slipped on the slick sticky ground. The little eye-ball camera atop the Atlas shifted its gaze right at him and ripped its arm out of the corridor taking a part of the wall with it.

Thanks Pilot! A voice came from down the corridor. There were still Militia in the building. There was a loud click and whoosh of a Titan cockpit opening.

"Hah! No problem mate. Sorry for the mess, eh?"

There were some chuckles.

"Alright, let's go Zeke!" The cockpit shut.

Did he just refer to his Titan by name?

Hey man, Pilots are on a whole other level.

Yeah that makes sense. They practically bond with their Titans.

Ramirez could hear footsteps coming closer down the hall. They were going to check the bodies. He didn't have his jump kit anymore but he was still a Pilot and his reflexes were faster than theirs were. Easy. Just as long as that Titan was gone. He listened to the pattern of the footfalls, determined how many and where they were and when he was confident enough; pulled out his Hammond from his holster and put tight groups in the three oncoming terrorists.

"Now to regroup." Ramirez said to himself.

Graves studied the flow of the battle through the holo-map and readouts on the charts. So far the ground war aspect of the operation was well within acceptable losses. He was concerned about the air portion of the assualt. The Phantoms had spent too long in development due to cost overruns, lack of focus, and political interference and were slowing losing to battle tested and more maneuverable Hornet.

To make matters worse, Blisk's insertion team with the remaining pilots from the Colony operation still hadn't turned up MacAllan. There were reports of civilians also cramped within the cargo bay of the old carrier. Well, that wasn't completely accurate though. Some were the offspring of ex-IMC traitors and thus were a quasi-legal area as far as Graves was concerned. Though, Graves was certain that Blisk wouldn't make such a observation. Regardless of the casualties, MacAllan had to be found and brought to formal justice by the IMC. He just had to figure out where Mac was and end this war soon.

"What the hell are they doing in there? Hiding? Spyglass, scan for electronic activity."

Spyglass looked up from his panel, "Low level frequency only, Vice-Admiral."

Graves turned back to the readout on the holo-map, "Keep an eye on them, Spyglass. I want to know what they're up to."

Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!

Four Militia terrorists dropped dead. Mayumi stowed the empty mag back on her belt and slid a fresh mag in. The Smart pistol was devastating in close range. Only a day ago, she was the newest member on the team and now she was providing crowd control support for the Grunts as Mercer had done before her.

"Generator building cleared." Mayumi reported.

"You heard the Pilot! Let's reinforce this area!" Several grunts filed past her and set up firing positions.

Her radio crackled, "The Militia have retaken the communications building. Mayumi they'll cut us off." Winter's ordered her.

"Understood." Mayumi slid through the doorway and boosted onto a wall. When she saw the open windows of the communications building she grabbed a corner, rolled onto the floor and landed in a crouched firing position and let four smart rounds find their targets.

Even as the bodies were falling, she was up and moving again. Over the guard rail and onto the wall left of her overlooking the floor below and locked on to three more targets. All three rounds striking through their intended target's skulls.

"Communications secured. Gamma Squad move up and hold this position."

Titan! There's an enemy Titan!

It's an ogre!

Mayumi touched down on the ground, one hand bracing her impact, the other still holding the smart pistol aloft. She stood up and holstered the Smart Pistol and relayed the Titanfall command on her wrist-com. Almost immediately she could hear the sound of the Rocket boosters catapulting her Titan towards the earth. A second later, her Titan collided into the ground sending dirt and dust in all directions. She passed through the dome shield and stepped onto her awaiting Titan's out stretched hand like she would a step.

Mayumi sat in the cockpit and began arming her titan and switching over to manual. The cockpit doors shut and screens flickered on. She raised the visor on her helmet and blinked adjusting to the neuro-linked interface of her Titan. The dome shield was still on and little ripples of bullets trying to penetrate the field. An Archer rocket hit the field and exploded impotently.

Slowly, she panned around the area, taking full advantage of the dome shield to seek out targets. There was no sign of the Ogre in her immediate area. Her Stryder hoisted up it's quad rocket and gripped it in both hands.

This is Eta squad, Militia Titan is attacking the generat-

Mayumi pushed her titan into gear heading back towards the area she was just at. Just around the corner a green Ogre appeared. It was waiting for her and fired four of its own missiles. Without thinking, Mayumi lurched back turboing her Titan backwards barely missing the barrage of missiles. The quad rockets exploded against another set of buildings throwing debris clanging noisily off her hull.

The enemy Titan pulled into view around the corner and deployed a particle wall. Mayumi kept backing up to get out of the kill zone. The terrorist fired another round in the alternative fire that fit between the buildings. Mayumi fired defensively the electric smoke and turned around seeking cover. She barely made before the missiles sped past. She was backed up against the Odyssey and looked towards her right actively seeking better cover to flank the Ogre.

The Ogre was slow but without the open terrain, there was no way to get around that particle wall. She went under a section of the Odyssey that looked to be a makeshift tunnel that led around the side of another makeshift building. Before her she could see open terrain and that's where she would lead that enemy Titan.

Her Titan was sprinting towards the forest area. She came to the corner and saw the enemy Titan was facing the wrong way. She put a barrage towards him, three of the four of the rockets made good hits and the heavy Ogre jerked forward seeking cover of the kill zone that Mayumi just left behind.

Mayumi rotated back towards the trees again. In the back of her mind, something about that Ogre seemed familiar. Then again, there were so many enemy Titans on the Frontier, they were bound to eventually look the same. She saw an rocky outcropping and positioned herself behind it. Mayumi, initiated a reload of her quad rockets and took a second to flex her hand.

With the reload finished, Mayumi popped out from behind cover zooming in on her sights. There was nothing there. She pulled out on the sights and looked around. He couldn't have gone too far. A Titan that slow had to be somewhere. Suddenly, it appeared next to her slamming it's large fist into the side of her. The body shield absorbed most of the impact but it still sent her reeling.

"Agh! Damnit!" Mayumi cursed and brought up her vortex shield to catch the barrage the terrorist was about to fire. She was too quick to do it however and the Militia Pilot switched tactics. Instead, he grabbed the vortex shield hand on her Titan and crushed it with his Ogre's grip.

Vortex shield offline, Pilot. Mayumi's Titan OS informed her. She tried to boost back but the Titan was still in the firm grasp of the enemy. With the other Titan hand, she shoved the Quad Launcher into the "belly" of the enemy Titan and fired.

The explosion blew the two apart and ripped off her Titan's left arm. The Ogre's arm flew up releasing her Stryder's arm, sending it soaring through the air. Using a boost, Mayumi pushed past the Ogre along the rock's edge and towards the open cliff. The damage to her Titan was severe and the quad was too heavy for the thin arms of the Stryder.

She spun back around to fire her ordnance but the Ogre had already fired another barrage. Several missiles slammed into her Stryder Titan sending it careening to the ground. Mayumi rattled around in the cockpit helplessly. She looked up dazed at the screen and seeing the Ogre approach to deliver the final blow.

Mayumi mashed the controls trying to get the Stryder to stand upright, boost, anything. Nothing, the Stryder was dead. The screen cracked and fizzled and a wire that jarred loosed sparked.

"This is Warhound Three. Any units respond! I need help! Anyone!" Mayumi cried in a panic. Tears forming at the edge of her eyes.

"Can you eject?" A husky voice enunciated. Mayumi recognized it as Grendel.

"I'm... Trying!" Mayumi grunted, quickly breaking a section of paneling away. She pulled out her data-knife and quickly cut a section of the wiring away that was wrapped around her seat. The world went dark and Mayumi could see the Ogre standing above her.

"Shit, just shoot him!" The final strand broke away and Mayumi smashed the eject key three times fast. The Titan's canopy burst free and Mayumi shot fast out of the cockpit parallel to the ground. She watched the sky blur by and a rail of light whoosh in the other direction then the whole world was bathed in blue light.

Mayumi hit the dirt and rolled hard and lurched into the air and hit the ground again with heavy thud. She spat out blood and her teeth and had bit her cheek and she gave a big cough spitting out dirt from her lungs. She was dizzy and disorientated. Several IMC Grunts appeared and created a circle.

"This is Beta 4, Pilot secured. Moving to the Goblin for extract!" An IMC Grunt shouted over the whir of an approaching Goblin's engines.

"Sir, civies in the open! What's your order?"

"They're Ex-IMC," The sergeant replied, "Kill 'em!"

Mayumi felt a wave of hot pain as a pair of arms picked her up by her shoulders. She made horrible shrieks of pain and someone jabbed a needle in her arm to calm her down. The painkiller was quick acting and soon she passed out.

* * *

On a far set planet on an island installation used for housing prisoners. Dr. Yisv, a regenerative specialist working for Vinson Dynamics, a subsidiary of Hammond Robotics, was studying the patient before him. The patient's name was listed as Mason Briggs and the poor wretch had lost both of his legs during a fuel raid recently. Blisk had handed the prisoner over mostly intact and the specimen was a very hearty and strapping fellow indeed. Even more remarkable was the G1 implants he had found inside the former Pilot. That was all very exciting.

Hammond had made great strides in robotics in the last decade and the buy out of Vinson Dynamics was an integral part of that all success. Behind the scenes, however, Dr. Yisv had worked mainly in the shadows doing things that had been outlawed since the Geneva Convention and the most recent Treaty of Paris that ended the Titan Wars. He was as brilliant as he was ruthless but his ability to get results was what caught Dr. Hammond's eye. The old man was dying, his life already vastly extended by a regimen of chemical and bio-enhancements and even that was failing. Dr. Hammond was in control of two things that he wanted in order to change destiny: infinite time and infinite money. Dr. Hammond was prepared to use both in order to conquer death. Dr. Yisv had seen the promise of robotics and its possible use to engineer the human body. Prosthetics were an already flourishing industry but Dr. Yisv wanted to push past that false facade and create a true simulacrum.

For the last three years he had pushed the boundary of human limits with his prosthetic limbs to enhance human speed by 20% but it wasn't enough. Hammond didn't care. He wanted to rule his corporate empire until the end of time. The old man wanted a shell to hold his mind. Yisv believed that the key was held in the Pilots. The Gen chips that enhanced each pilot's abilities at the cost of memories was the key. What he needed was the appropriate balance to hold all of Dr. Hammond's memories intact.

Dr. Yisv became aware of his com ringing. He saw the name register as Kuben Blisk. The scientist sighed in frustration before signaling the computer to allow the call.

"I'm very busy mercenary. Please be brief."

"I know," Blisk said, "I have a patch job for you. One of my Pilots needs a new arm and spare parts."

"You know my cost."

"I do. And I want you to do it personally."

"Then double my cost."

"He's a G2," Blisk threw in, "I know how much the old man is looking for higher gen chips. So you can use 'im in your research too."

Yisv snorted, "Very well. May it be that you're somewhat loyal after all?"

"Only if someone pays me to be. Blisk out."

Yisv sighed and returned to Brigg's charts and readouts. The data looked promising but it was hard to tell at this stage. When the insurrection was over, Yisv would have no end of test subjects from the so called "Militia". Then he could work in peace and not have to wait for scraps to come in, but such was life however. Maybe he would buy his own planet?

Yisv chuckled to himelf, "Now let's see Patient 227, if we can further map your mind, shall we?"

* * *

Mayumi was in the shower room, moving the razor slowly up her leg. She was lucky to be alive. When she had awoken in on board hospital, they had told her that Grendel had given his life to save hers. Grendel wasn't Nimr though, so she couldn't say she was sorry that he died.

"You're bleeding." Mayumi started and looked up at Winters leaning against the entrance to the showers.

"It doesn't matter." Mayumi said and brought her leg down, "What is it?"

"Grendel died saving you. It doesn't make sense." She shook her head and looked at Mayumi, "What did you do?"

"Me? I didn't do anything." Mayumi said defensively.

"One second, Grendel was willing to let you die in order to take out all the Militia Pilots, the next he lets go another sniper to save your ass." It wasn't an accussation. Mayumi could tell by Winters voice that something had changed. She was, as strange as it is, talking to her Pilot to Pilot. "Now, I have this frosh Harper, who's thankful that Grendel was an ass and made her run back to base or she would've have died too. Now, it's just you and me out of Mercer, Grendel, Ramirez and Dax. At least, we'll be getting Barrett back soon. His R n' R, ended and he's rotating back. That'll put us back up to four but still understrength."

"Sure." Mayumi still wasn't really sure this was actually happening.

"Do you think that Ramirez made it out of the combat zone? I hear that they sometimes just evacuate Pilots but leave the Grunts behind. I should check and see. I didn't think Blisk could just pull Pilots like that." Winters got up and left the shower room without waiting for a reply.

Mayumi stared after her for a few seconds before returning to shaving her legs. Four people in almost as many days. She was starting to see why Grendel was so cold. Life was cheap on the Frontier and it got cheaper by the day. At that moment, she had never missed Nimr more in her life.

* * *

Happy late Christmas everyone (or respective holiday), I just want to say I'm thrilled that people are still reading this and I hope you've been enjoying it as much as I have been writing it! Hunting down all the lore and compiling it into the story has been a personal treat for myself and being so slow at writing means I get to adjust my story to fit in with Titanfall 2. Anyways, I hope you stick around because there's certainly more to come! :D

Addendum: Made some minor edits as the doc translation came through poorly.


	7. Chapter 4A: Get Barker

Freeport System

Aboard MCS Annapolis

2145, March 09th, 0800h

"Fuck, this water smells like recycled piss." Vlocke choked and sputtered spiting out water vehemently.

"Yeah," Chung laughed, "That's 'cause it is man."

"Yeah, well fuc' off," Vlocke scowled, "I didn't become a bloody hero to just bathe in people's piss!"

"For you Vlocke," Talea laughed from the other side of the room, "Bish personally pissed in yours."

"Oh yeah, really funny." Vlocke slapped an arm against his bicep and raised his fist in her direction.

"Don't worry hero, water's clean."

"I don't even want to think about it. Haven showers are havens. Just gonna let all your shit wash away mate." Vocke closed his eyes.

Chung grinned waited a few seconds and then said, "Still smells like piss though."

"Fuck you Chung, you little cocksucker!" Vlocke roared. Talea cackled in the background.

* * *

"Attention all personal. My name is James MacAllan." The _Annapolis_ 's hanger rang with the new General's voice. All the Pilots had been assembled into neat lines and column ranks. Besides MacAllan was Bish and Sarah, showing their complete support. Sarah was still reserved though, her arms and legs crossed but her being up there showed everyone she was playing ball.

"You have saved lives this day," MacAllan continued, "And we all in your debt. I'm gonna help return that debt and help you beat the IMC. Any small victory has been offset by the IMC's superior numbers. With daily reinforcements arriving from Demeter. I believe we can bring the fight to them."

 _Oh man, I should write this down. This is history!_ A Pilot next to Charlie blurted out and started looking through his uniform for a tablet to type it on.

"I believe we can change the balance of power on the Frontier! We're heading to Angel City to acquire an old compatriot of mine: Barker. Who believes as I do that the IMC's reign cannot last forever. Pilots, prepare to deploy. Let's get it done."

Sarah and Bish then started barking orders.

"All Pilots report to your designated hangers. All Squad Leaders will meet Bish in the briefing room for mission specifics and chalk designations." Sarah shouted.

"Alright crew, you heard General MacAllan return to your jump stations and prepare for warp in twenty." Bish announced via the loud speaker across the ship.

Hamish patted Charlie on the shoulder and moitioned his head toward's MacAllan. The two of them and Abigail got up and walked over to MacAllan who was finishing a talk with Sarah and Bish and few other Militia higher ups. When they reached him, he put a hand up to the Militia Captain he was talking to and smiled at them. The Captain saluted and walked off.

"You still got it old man." Hamish chuckled.

"Got you guys you come make trouble with me, didn't I?" His smile fell a little.

Hamish clasped MacAllan's shoulder, "Hey man, we'll get Graves for what he did. She didn't deserve to die that way. No one does."

"Thanks Hamish," MacAllan nodded, "But this is bigger than just us. If we want to pay back Graves, this is our best shot."

"Their capabilities are under what we anticipated back in the day." Abigail noted.

"Indeed," MacAllan agreed, "General Anderson led them well but the IMC have the whole Core Worlds backing them. Staying active as long as they did is impressive."

"Impressive or not Mac, how're we going to get them to Demeter?" Hamish asked.

"We're just gonna have to trust the Playbook."

Hamish gave a resigned sigh, "You still think that Barker's gonna wanna help?"

MacAllan chuckled, "Want to? No."

"The Seventh don't need to be a part of this. You're already heroes. You can sit this one out." Captain Venick addressed Talea. He was one of the oldest Pilots in service at around thirty four. His knees weren't what they used to be from the rampant stim use and the scars that pockmarked his face from poor surgery gave him the presence of an even older man.

Talea adjusted her helmet under arm, "We're going."

"Don't be an stuborn. Your team survived three back to back missions over three days. They team needs to rest."

"You care, how touching." Talea brushed him off. She tried to walk past him but he stepped in front of her.

"Listen. You've lost one of your own and another's in the hospital. Then you have that new guy who is practically off rails. So that just leaves you with two left and you can't deploy under strength."

"Watch me."

"Attention on deck!" A Militia Officer announced. Bish walked in followed by MacAllan. All the Titan Pilot sqaud leaders snapped to attention and saluted.

"At ease." MacAllan said with an informal tone. The Pilots relaxed and took a seat.

"Pilots, General MacAllan has a good indication of where our target is located." Bish said, "The primary mission goal is to locate Barker and extract him via the local sewers. While a diversionary team keeps the IMC busy up top."

"That's suicide!" Lieutenant Foyer from Phoenix squad spoke up, "You can't expect us to stand up to the whole IMC."

"Barker's intelligence is vital for our plan to succeed." MacAllan said.

"What makes him so vital?" Venick spoke, his chin resting on his hands as he leaned forward.

"He's been to a top secret facility that created the dog whistle towers that guard the airbases around Demeter." MacAllan replied.

"So he's a scientist?" Venick asked.

"Not quite," MacAllan shuffled, "Uh, Barker was the top IMC ship pilot that helped me compile the Playbook back when I worked with Graves."

"Wait a minute, we're working with Ex-IMC?" Foyer jumped up, "No way, that's bullshit!"

"Sit down Foyer." Talea rolled her eyes.

"What? Like I'm supposed to just forget all the horrible shit those people did to us?" Foyer shouted at her.

Talea grabbed him by the cuffs, lifted him off the floor and slammed him back down, "I said: Sit. Down." She released his cuffs and stood back up. Bish was already stepping over to settle everyone down.

"Alright alright, break it up." Bish yelled, "Is this how you want us to be seen? Arguing and fighting with each other, when now we have the best chance we've had in a long time to actually hurt the IMC? Well is it?" Bish stared Talea in the face with a hard stern look. He helped Foyer off the ground. Talea continued to look straight ahead, completely rigid. Foyer did too, though the back of his head was bleeding a little. Bish grunted, shook his head, and began to walk back up to MacAllan.

"Sir?" Talea blurted out.

Bish turned back around.

"Sir, The Seventh volunteer for the mission. Where ever you'll have us."

"Absolutely not." Captain Venick now took his turn to stand up, "Commander Cheung, the Seventh have been in combat missions straight through the last 72 hours. In addition to being the ones who helped bring aboard MacAllan. Whatever, Lieutenant Talea's crazy idea is, I must insist that they have a minimum rest period of 24 hours. They're heroes not cannon fodder, sir."

"I agree with Captain Venick. Lieutenant Talea, General MacAllan and I are grateful for what the Seventh did back on Planet Troy. What we need in this war are more heroes, not martyrs."

"Yes sir." Talea said flatly, while Captain Venick eyed her suspiciously.

* * *

"Hey top, what's with the urgency?" Grissom sat down at the table with the rest of the team in the cantina.

"Hey, grab a drink." Talea said.

"Uh, yeah sure. What's up?"

"We've been put on mandatory 24 hour leave."

"But you're not smiling." Chung shot her a sidelong glance.

"I'm going down to get Barker with the rest of them and the rest of you are welcome to come with me." She sat back smiling to herself.

"Ah, there it is." Chung chugged his drink.

"So, what's your plan?" Vlocke said bottle firmly in hand.

"We get aboard a dropship heading out, get to Angel City, and kill bad guys."

"Mmm, I like it. Simple, easy to remember." Vlocke took a swig.

"What's this about?" Chung leaned over.

"It's about," Talea drew herself up, "about being apart of the best chance we've had since Ares. A real chance to get back at the IMC."

"Yeah but our life expectancy is short. We've all survived several back to back missions, ma'am. I'm out." Chung said, "I want to see what the hero life is like. Just for a little."

"Grissom?" Talea asked.

"Ma'am, Bartusky is still in the med ward. If we all wipe out on a mission... I dunno, I can't do that. It ain't fair."

"You're with me?" Talea looked at Vlocke.

"Yeah, totally. Can I bring Eve?"

"Your shotgun? I would think so." Talea asked a little surprised.

"Yeah, and my wingman. Lucy?"

"Yeah..." Talea said quizically.

"Oh, and charlie."

"Who's charlie?" Chung scoffed, "Your data-knife?"

Vlocke looked at him hurt, "I don't name my data-knives, I'm not a psychopath! No, Charlie's that bloke from the colony. I bet ya, he'll be sentimental to our cause."

"That's a good idea." Talea agreed.

"Look you're both talking crazy, if you need me, I'm going to visit Bartuksy." Grissom stood up to leave.

"Yeah, I'll come with." Chung got up too and followed Grissom out.

Talea watched them both go and then turned her attention back to Vlocke. Vlocke was stroking his mutton chops thoughtfully.

"What?" Talea folded her arms.

"Oh, uh nothin', I was just thinking how I was going to get Zeke to come with us."

"We can't. Obviously. Sarah'll have that whole area under mission only drops. It'll just be us and our jump kits."

"I know. I just... I feel better having him around." Vlocke conceded.

"It's just a machine Vlocke. You can always get another."

Vlocke sighed and looked contemplative for a second, if that was even possible. Talea thought to herself. He perked up and got up from the table, "Right, well, I'm gonna gather mah gear."

"Right, see you soon." She watched Vlocke leave. Someone at the doorway to cantina stopped Vlocke and started chatting him up. Talea saw that Vlocke looked apprehensive. A few seconds later, Vlocke decided to just bump past the guy to get out. Talea saw the figure turn into the Cantina.

Venick.

The captain came over to her table almost immediately and sat down. She glared at Venick over the rim of her cup as he sat down. He chuckled dryly and folded his fingers together.

"I see your guys left. Surprised you're still here."

"I just leaving." She said putting the cup down.

"Oh were you?"

"What do you want Venick?" Talea asked giving him an impetuous look.

"You to stop whatever it is you're doing. It's crazy and you're going to get killed."

"I can handle it."

"What happened? You were always a conservative leader. What? Did you get a taste for blood now? The past three days weren't enough for you?"

Talea kept silent and just glared at him.

Venick sighed, "Look, I can guarantee that you won't make it down there."

"Is that right?"

"Yes. I've seen this before. Pilots get thrown back into the shit over and over and they can't live without the high. Broken bones, brain deficiencies, and a bunch of other things that'll crush your lifespan. You're heroes and given us a serious new contender better than Anderson ever was. Just rest on your laurels for one day."

"Three days ago," Talea looked down at her glass, "we were so low on fuel that we jumped right into an ambush hoping to come out on top. We did. _Barely_. One week before that, we raided an installation for ammo. One month ago, we attacked an IMC flotilla just so we could get another civvie ship. One year ago, we were raiding Ares to get our entire fleet!"

"What's your point?" Venick grunted.

"Every day, every life, every bullet matters. Anderson lost in the Titan Wars and look where that got him. MacAllan survived 15 years off the IMC's radar and we have the best chance now then we ever did. I'm not going to miss a second of what's happening now."

Venick leaned back and shook his head, "That's why we need you here. Soldiers like Foyer aren't going to just let bygones be bygones. They'll oppose MacAllan each chance they get. We need to be united on this. We need a hero to tell them what they need to hear."

"No, goddamn way." Talea snapped, rising out of her seat.

"Hey, now wait a minute!" Venick said hurriedly.

"I'm not putting up my kit. You or anyone else can go fuck themselves."

"No one's asking you to. Just on the ground, we need people to like this."

"If you want a hero so much, why don't you just elect Bish?"

"Sure, he's already a hero but sure what's another pat on the back? The Seventh is already respected. Your team on the ground pulled a win out of your ass and got the locals to work with you. Everyone else has had 48 hours to regroup and process since Operation Fracture. Your team has been on the front lines three times in three days. So sorry to say it but yeah, you get special privileges once in a while. My advice, take the goddamn 24 hours and be a fucking hero or spend the next 24 in the brig! But either way you're not leaving this ship.

Venick got up to leave and threw a couple credits on the table, "Here, get yourself drunk." With that he left the cantina for Talea to stew in. She waited for Venick to leave before she scooped up the credits and pocketed them. It was only twenty credits worth but if she score some more, it might be enough to bribe someone to look the other way. She wondered if Vlocke was getting as much shit as she was.

* * *

Vlocke's fist could feel the jaw bone snap out of place. He admited he enjoyed the sound. The poor Grunt twirled as spit flew from his mouth as he careened backwards. The landing sounded much nicer and Vlocke was sure the Grunt's nose must've broken. He shook his hand and winced a little.

"That 'urt more than I thought it would've." Vlocke chuckled to himself, "well mate, now i'm gonna take your uniform if you don't mind. Of course, you don't! Ya knocked out, yeah?"

The Grunt mumbled. Vlocke's eyes went wide with surprise.

"You what?"

The Grunt mumbled again.

"Yeah... I'm not getting any of that." Vlocke leaned in closer to the Grunt's broken jaw.

"Ayy... oo ou... kap... hedding... ma."

Vlocke looked thoughtfully at the Grunt whose nose was dripping blood onto the deck and sighed, "Yeah, I got none of that."

The Grunt groaned frustratedly as Vlocke hoisted him up and shoved him into a nearby closet. After trading a couple of the key garments with the Grunt, Vlocke squatted down and leveled with the hapless Grunt. The Grunt's jaw was getting puffy and swollen. Vlocke touched his own cheek and sucked his teeth, "I'm really sorry about that ya know. But you had one of those faces. You know, the one that looks like it really needs to be hit. Have you been hit before?"

"Ureh bow ou."

Vlocke nodded gently a half smile on his face, "Yeah, still not getting anything you're saying."

The Grunt groaned, "Ay ar ou... tuch... un... orsehol."

"Horse bowl?" Vlocke looked confused, " I think I hit cha too 'ard, hurt your brain mate."

"Orsehol! Orrsee. Holll."

"Well..." Vlocke snagged the id's off the Grunt, "Nowg- Nou- Newgton. Listen, Newgton."

"Es... Noughton."

Vlocke tittered, "No it's not, there's a 'g h' in it, you cheeky cunt. _Noughton_." Vlocke laughed out loud, "Nah, listen, Newgton-"

"Noughton!" The Grunt insisted through his broken jaw bone.

"Look, I'm just saying, you're the one with the broken jaw. Not me, mate."

The Grunt growled and then moaned in pain.

"Actually... that's a better ider." Vlocke grinned looking at the miserable Grunt.

"Oi," Vlocke whistled to a passing Grunt on the hanger, pushing Noughton in front of him.

"What is it trooper?" The hailing Grunt asked him.

"I found this Pilot, trying to sneak his way onto one of the Dropships."

"Ah, that must be the one Venick was after." The guard said.

"Yeah, Venick." Vlocke said, "He the old one with the uh..." Vlocke made vague hand motions around his face.

"Urm nahtt uh piewoht." Noughton said.

"Yeah, he's the one with the scars. Badass dude, that's for sure." The guard nodded to Noughton, "What's he trying to say?"

"Who knows," Vlocke said quickly, "I punched him as he turned around, been like that ever since."

"Well, we'll take it from here..." The guard looked down at the ID tags around Vlocke's neck, "Newgton."

"You're the first one to get that right." Vlocke laughed, "People always try to say Newton."

"Looks just like it spells." The guard chuckled proudly. Noughton glared at Vlocke, who grinned broadly at him in return.

"Well, I gotta catch my ride. Later fellas." Vlocke waved and turned around to look for a dropship with Charlie attached.

The hanger bay was full of activity. But Vlocke imagined that if MacAllan was going to be anywhere, Charlie was going to be close behind. So MacAllan then should be where things were thickest. Vlocke made his way through the crowds and the fuss keeping an eye out for the gorilla of a man.

The civies stood out easy amongst the crowd. The Militia was already a patchwork of all walks of life but the guys they picked up on Troy. They looked like ragged shit in comparison. Their silver uniforms were dull and patchy, most looked like it came straight from the '20s. Which it most likely did. As Vlocke got nearer he could pick up snippets of conversation.

 _...He's not dead Hamish._

 _Charlie..._

 _He's not. I know he's not. He was with Al. They're alive. We have to go back._

 _Even if he's not Charlie, we can't go back. You know that._

 _"_ That's bullshit!" Charlie roared, "That's my son, Hamish!" Vlocke was close enough now that he could hear them normally. Though everyone had stopped and stared at Charlie and Hamish.

Hamish playfully punched Charlie in the shoulder, "Come on big man, hold it together."

Charlie's face had turned beet red, "I'm- I'm sorry Hamish. He's my son. His ma and I, we don't-" Hamish took a deep breath, "He's a good boy, he doesn't deserve that kind of fate."

"I know man." Hamish comforted his friend, "Al will know what to do."

The big man wheezed and his face became puffy, "You don't think he'll..."

Hamish just shook his head, "Come on man, you gotta put your mind at ease about this."

"It's my son!" Charlie yelled.

"'Ey mates," Vlocke interrupted, "This the dropship headed planet side?"

"Who's asking?" Charlie turned his chin up.

"What? Me, mate. I was one of the pilots with you guys on Troy."

"I thought you were all put on 24 leave." Hamish folded his arms.

"Yeah," Vlocke acknowledged, "But fuck all that. The fights down there and you're going into the thick of it."

"You sure about that Pilot? You so sure you want to go back down on the sod?"

"Damn right."

"Well fuck it, I say." Charlie thumped his chest, "if he wants to go down to hell with us. Why not take him?"

"It's not up to me really," Hamish protested, "MacAllan has to green light it. And where we're going there isn't gonna be much use for a pilot."

"Huh, why's that?" Vlocke asked.

* * *

The Harbor District was one of the first places locked down by the IMC on their return to frontier. It was a dense urban sprawl and from the docks you could see glittering skyline reflect the light from the other buildings. Vlocke had never seen anything quite like it before. The largest building he'd ever seen was the skyport back home and that was from miles away. Seeing the building stretch up before him gave him a small irk of dizziness.

MacAllan hardly seemed to notice. Vlocke didn't know how he'd know that his old friend Barker was here but he was unshakably confident. MacAllan, Hamish, Abigail, and Charlie with Vlocke bringing up the rear, headed towards a strip of shops.

"He's in there." MacAllan nodded towards the bar near the end.

Hamish chuckled, "Well his tastes haven't changed much."

MacAllan grinned, "The best liquor in the shittiest place." He turned around back to the group, "Back when Barker and I finished our tour in the Titan Wars, Angel City was still a city. Now its become so locked down that it's basically a prison for forty thousand people." MacAllan started walking towards the bar again, "And all we have to do is breakout a single, probably very drunk, and probably very angry man."

"Oh so easy then." Vlocke mumbled under his breath.

"Fox One, this is Macaw Actual," MacAllan spoke into his wristcom. On the way down planetside, Hamish had explained that the Militia using code words similar to the IMC was allowing them to break their communications easier. By switching to Animals, MacAllan reasoned it would bestow a sense of identity in the Militia and distance themselves from using the outdated IMC phonetic alphabet.

"This is Fox One, go ahead." The radio crackled back.

"We're entering the Den. When Black Bear is secured start the party."

"Understood, Fox One on standby."

"Okay," MacAllan said, "Let's go find Barker."

The outside of the bar advertised holo-companions with the image of a woman's torso slinging a gun behind her. The bar was thick with pink halogen lights and wide open on the other side. It was sparely crowded, with a couple of patrons nursing drinks with glib expressions. As soon as MacAllan entered the bar, the crowd began whispering and some got up to leave. The bartender, a thick set korean man with auburn hair and an excellent handlebar mustache named Nicholas, set the drink he was cleaning down on the counter and eyed MacAllan warily.

"We don't serve your kind here."

"Don't worry, we wont stay long." MacAllan drawled, "Where is he?"

The bartender simply nodded up the stairs, "He said you'd come ya know."

"Oh yeah?"

"He wanted me to tell you something when you did." Nicholas leveled with MacAllan.

MacAllan grinned, "Let's hear it."

"He was on his ninth drink when he said it but he swore me to tell you: 'I'm through with the Frontier and that son of a bitch MacAllan."

MacAllan turned back to rest of the group with a knowing look, "Yep, that's Taube. Thanks we'll be on our way." He said to the bartender.

"Macaw, to Fox One, en route to Black Bear, copy?"

"Roger that Macaw. Putting Eagles on the table."

The group went up a flight of stairs to another room that was immersed in pink light. There was a single bed with a man in civilian grays. The room was a mess of sheets, bottles, drugs, and old boxes of take out. The dock next to the bedside was playing music that Vlocke was positive wasn't from this century. MacAllan looked about the room and motioned for Charlie and Hamish to pick up Barker from the bed.

"Abigail look for something to splash water on him with."

The intelligence office searched the bathroom and came back with a cup filled with water. Barker was draped over the shoulders of Charlie and Hamish sagging awkwardly. Vlocke peeked over his shoulder from the doorway keeping a look out for IMC and other dangers.

"Hey, what?" Barker said half-awake. MacAllan nodded for Abigail to splash him with the water. "Aghh, hey! Hey what is this? What're you doin'?"

"Time to get up, Barker." MacAllan prodded him.

Barker groaned, "I'm up... you son of a bitch."

Abigail splashed him again.

"Hey, hey! What was that for?"

Abigail grinned sheepishly, "That was for the smell."

Barker rolled his eyes. Hamish sniffed a bit, "Yeah, he's a bit ripe ain't he?"

"Well, he'll blend in where we're going. Let's get him moving." MacAllan said.

"Wait! I ain't goin' no son of a bitch, I ain't goin' no where!" Barker tried to protest but was unable to break free.

They moved down the stairs, Vlocke covering the wide open side of the bar as MacAllan and the rest walked out the back and towards the sewer entrance. There to greet them was a squad of Militia troops and three Titans. The closest Atlas Titan opened it's cockpit and the Pilot stood up and saluted.

"General MacAllan, Captain Hainey of the SRS. It's an honor, sir."

"The pleasure's all mine, Captain. Does your squad understand what we're asking of them?"

"Yes, sir! We'll cover your escape with Barker and make those IMC bastards pay for every inch!"

"God speed, Pilot." MacAllan saluted. Hainey shut his hatch and began ordering his Pilots to take positions. MacAllan and a Grunt unlatched the sewer entrance, "Captain, can you give me a hand?"

"Aye." Hainey gently plucked up Barker from between Hamish and Charlie. Barker tried to swat the Titan's arm to break free.

"I'm through with the Frontier! Ya hear me MacAllan? I'm through!"

"Damn this guy smells," The Grunt covered the breath part of his mask, "you know him or something?"

"Yeah," MacAllan grunted as the sewer grate handle lurched, "Barker was my... wingman in the Titan Wars." MacAllan heaved the grate open allowing Hamish and Charlie swung down the ladder.

Barker glared at the Militia troops watching him as Hainey slowly dipped him into the opening, "I'm gonna kick ALL your asses! Hey what do you think you're doing?"

MacAllan chuckled, "He may not look like much , but trust me, we're gonna need him, he's a helluva pilot."

Barker was still complaining below them, "Frontier Whiskey? You can't drink that piss! Hey, Lemme go!" Hamish and Charlie had seized him as MacAllan, Abigail, and Vlocke climbed down to join them.

"Ok, let's move people! Let's buy them some time!" Captain Hainey ordered as the grate shut with a loud clang.

* * *

Talea was relaxing on the brig's cot as best she could. Her legs were crossed with her foot wiggling back and forth to the song playing in her head. She had her hands under head resting against bare cushion. Talea had a small grin on her face.

"So that's what a hero looks like?" Venick dryly commented.

Talea ignored him.

"Just so you know," He continued, "Your Pilot got planetside. With MacAllan of all people."

Talea grinned.

"It's not something to be proud of. We're really onto something here. Now more than ever, we need to be on the same front. This maybe our best chance to really bring about freedom on the Frontier. But no, you'd rather be in the thick of it, micromanaging."

"I have Ryn."

"You want her for command one day don't you?"

Talea opened one eye and then shut it.

"Ha. I thought so." Venick pulled up a stole and sat on it. He pulled out his data-knife and a polishing cloth and began to clean his knife with care. "You still clean your weapons before battle?"

"Every drop and after."

"Good. You still remember something I taught you."

"Give yourself some credit." Talea replied.

"I would... if I knew what the hell had gotten into you." Venick examined his work before going back to polishing his knife.

"You gonna sit out there all night?"

"No, I was just gonna keep the seat warm for the next guy who's gonna sit here all night."

Talea scoffed.

"But Bartusky's good. A little green but these last few months have been especially difficult. Hard to find experienced Pilots these days."

"Look, why don't you skip straight to the lecture, huh? Save us all... a little trouble."

Venick grinned to himself as he sheathed the knife, "Alright, fine. Here's the question: Between the combat, adrenaline, stims, piss and bloodshed, do you still remember how to a step back?"

Talea scoffed again, "Of course."

"Oh? Name it."

Talea breathed in and exhaled, "I brought Frisko and Vlocke aboard as acceptable casualties. Chung is an excellent sniper, Bartusky shows promise at command, and Grissom he's clever. Really good at rigging that one."

"Do you remember what I told you about Old World knights?"

"The guys on horse back?"

"Hah, you do remember. Yes, exactly. Back in the ancient era, Knights would train their squires in the way of combat. Much the same we train our Pilots nowadays. We don't have the luxury of massive training grounds like the IMC."

"I see."

"So, if you get yourself killed, who's going to pass on that knowledge. We all want to fight and kill the IMC but you'e in a unique position now, yes as a hero, means your valuable to our efforts here."

"I'm not putting up my jump kit."

"And as I said at the cantina, I'm not asking you!" Venick got up and gripped the bars of the brig, "Talea, in all honesty, you would have to give up the Seventh and do lower-risk ops but you would still see combat."

"You want me to do this now?" Talea sat up on the cot, "When this is the best shot we've had since Ares?"

"Take a step back and think. Will four Pilots resting for 24 hours, really change the outcome of the war? I hardly think so. And if it did? Well, I think we already lost then." Venick let go of the bars and picked up the stool, "MacAllan's a long shot but if he fails. Concord and Harmony might as well be lost too. Think on that. We need you here, training Grunts in the Pods, putting Titan's through their paces, honing Pilot's skills. And if Bartusky's injury makes her lame and she can't jump anymore, you can keep the Seventh. But otherwise, I want you in the rear." Venick put the stool back against the wall; Talea listened to his footsteps echo on the metal grating as he left.

* * *

The holo-board was awash with blue and orange icons. Sarah watched each zone of the harbor district with rapt interest. It wasn't the grand uprising she had hoped for. Leaks of the Colony Massacre had reached this far out in the Freeport System but the IMC had done their best to suppress it. Kodai had held up their end of the bargain handsomely with weapon caches being hidden all over Angel City. Using the uprising as a smoke screen to hide their extraction of Barker had been MacAllan's hope. Sarah had half-hoped herself, that seeing the green of the Militia openly fighting in the streets would be enough to ignite more of an upheaval. However, the IMC already had the city firmly districted and walled off that it was hard to get news to the next cell.

"Ma'am," An attendant interrupted Sarah's thoughts, "Projections show us at 89% on the ground all nearby IMC garrisons are moving to intercept."

Sarah focused in on MacAllan's position in relation to the battle. They were moving at a steady pace almost outside the district. "Bish, I'm tracking MacAllan's team in the sewers. They're doing OK so far. Our topside diversion is definitely working."

"Copy that. Keep your fingers crossed..." Bish replied.

* * *

"S-soo what happened to you, Mac?" Barker hiccuped and swayed.

"Me, Barker?" MacAllan said coldly.

"H-hey, what's with the tone? Come on, man! After we split ways, you's and Graves were at each other. Ha ha ha uhh... drink?" He looked around the group looking for anyone with a flask. Hamish and Charlie both shook their heads. Barker groaned.

"He gave me the ship, Barker."

Barker's eyes almost blew out of his skull, "He did what!?"

Abigail gripped Barker's mouth tightly, "Shh." She whispered in his ear, shaking her head slowly and deliberately.

"That's right, Barker." MacAllan stopped walking and turned around to face Barker, "Right out in IMC free-space past the Denver system."

"But how? What'd'ya do?"

"He said he could change the IMC from the inside but I didn't think it was possible. So I forced him off the ship. These folks around around you here, let's just say, asked him to leave nicely."

"Well that's incredible! And Claire?" Barker asked.

MacAllan's face pulled tight, "Claires's gone Barker. Graves' men killed her when they attacked our Colony."

"That sonuvabitch!"

Abigail grabbed Barker harder by the mouth this time, "Quiet. Or I'll gag you."

"Yeah yeah, I get it." Barker wiped his mouth with the side of his hand, "So that's why you're with the Militia."

"Yeah Barker. That's why. And I'm gonna help them take down the IMC."

Barker laughed, "Mac, you're insane."

"I don't think so Barker. We're using the Playbook."

"What the hell-ez-at?" Barker slumped again.

"Quiet." MacAllan threw himself against the side of the sewer behind an obstruction. The rest followed suit. Vlocke pulled up his shotgun aiming towards the junction in front of them. It was all quiet but the sound of running sewage water. After a moment, a light hum became audible and slowly it built into a whine.

Slowly the dark tunnel began to fill with a soft blue glow and a drone rolled into view. Vlocke quickly snapped back behind the metal support to hide from view. He could hear the drone hum as it hovered in place scanning the tunnel for signs of life. Vlocke thought his breath was too loud and he tried to stop it. Time seemed to stretch on forever. He was getting antsy and wanted desperately to shoot the damn thing.

It moved forward a bit and begun to scan side to side. The high pitched whirs of the fans seemed to whine anxiously as if the drone itself knew it was on the brink of some discovery. Vlocke tightened his fingers around the pistol grip of the Eva-8 shotgun. He could feel his fingers sweat under his gloves. Was it stim withdrawal or actual fear? He actually wasn't so sure anymore if there was a difference.

Suddenly, the drone peeled away in a hurry and the ground shook and rumbled. The team stood up curious as to what was going on above them. Barker suddenly looked very worried.

"What the hell's gotten into you, man?" Hamish asked.

"Ah shit. Wait! We have to go back. I left my shotty at the bar. I ain't leaving town with out it!" Barker begged.

Hamish grinned, "Like we'd give you a gun. Look at you you're nuts."

Vlocke came up to Barker and handed him Eve, "I want her back." Vlocke twirled out Lucy, his wingman sidearm, and kept on moving.

Hamish looked on after Vlocke and shook his head, "I hope you didn't give him any bullets."

"Sarah, this MacAllan, give me a sitrep, over." MacAllan radioed.

"We're doing good. We have almost full control over the harbor district and riots have erupted in the housing blocks and in the market district. But they won't hold out for long, the IMC are bound to come in force sooner or later."

"We'll try to be long gone before then. MacAllan out."

"A lot of people are going to get hurt for this Mac." Charlie said somberly.

"I know, Charlie. In the end, this will be worth it. Trust me."

"I do, Mac." Charlie replied.

"Alright then, let's get Barker out of here."

* * *

"Understood Captain," Sarah spoke into her headset, "Dig in around the harbor district. We still need to buy MacAllan more time."

"Ma'am," an adjutant handed her a datapad with a readout on it.

"Get that over to Bish to clean it up." Sarah handed the datapad back.

"Yes, Ma'am." The adjutant replied.

"Bish?" Sarah asked over the radio.

"Go ahead, Sarah." He replied.

"Bish, I'm picking up a massive incoming jump signature directly above the city. I don't know what it is, but it's... big... and whoa, heads up!"

"Oh great. An IMC carrier just jumped in. Mac, you better get Barker outta there quick! Mac? Mac! Sarah I can't reach MacAllan."

"I'm still reading life signs. Maybe they went radio silent? Keep trying."

"Will do. He better still be alive or we're QSF."

* * *

Heyyy... a month isn't bad time at all to put one of these out. Part B will pick up where this part left off, so keep an eye out for it. My beta noticed that there's an issue with the transition from processor to posting. I went through and cleaned this one up. So sorry ebing lazy and not checking over the stories as they post. ^^' And as usual, I hope you guys are enjoying the story and I love hearing from you.


	8. Chapter 4B: Line in the Sand

Freeport System

Angel City

2145, March 09th, 1300h

"Intelligence has placed the start of the riot at the harbor district." Ramirez spoke over the com of the radio to his squad. The 8 of them were saddled in the back of a Samson driving along the city streets, while he was seated up front. A new set of faces staring back at him over the monitor, "Sigma, Upsilon, and Gamma squads will working east from the Up Mart, while we will be working north from the Angel Apartments building."

Ramirez glanced around his team looking to see if they registered the information, "As I'm sure you're all aware, this morning the Incident on Planet Troy was broadcast via clandestine means. The relay is considered to be of Kodai Industries origin and property. Our secondary objective is to secure the Kodai Industries building for detonation."

He again, let the information sink in among his troops before he continued, "It is also been confirmed that Kodai Industries has aided in the riots among the city by suppling the terrorists with armaments and intelligence. Therefore 10th Division as been tasked with carrying out Section 19 of the Planetary Law And Regulation Charter to put down all known and suspected terrorists in our ZOO." Also known as Zone of Operations in the IMC Operative Handbook but Ramirez knew most Grunts didn't read that shit. It was also used jokingly to refer to how the Militia named most of the vehicles after animals and insects.

The Samson bumped on the road again. Smoke began to mingle amongst the buildings. IMC search parties had infiltrated most of the city ahead of time scouring the city for Barker or MacAllan. So far the teams had only a vague notion of where to search. The rest of the IMC first response units had been tied up in the fighting and most of it was coming under control by noon.

"Expect heavy resistance once we enter the harbor district. Understood?"

 _Sir, yes sir!_ His Grunts chorused.

The large gate to District 12 cranked open. Around them, were make shift aid stations with medics attending to wounded. IMC troops were putting down rioters and terrorists near the walls of buildings and alley ways.

 _Worthless. To think Blisk would put me among them?_ Ramirez thought to himself. He nursed his wound, feeding it, growing it stronger. They would pay for it.

 _Archers! Get down!_ Someone screamed out. Probably the driver.

The distinct whoosh of rockets sounded and before Ramirez could react the Samson collided with the one in front of it throwing the vehicle onto it's side. Most of his team was ejected from the vehicle haphazardly. Ramirez shook his head as he slumped over in his seat. There was a loud ringing in his ears; he shook his head to try and clear his vision. By instinct, he grabbed his knife and cut the seatbelt loose. He looked behind at Sergeant Yas still reeling from the impact.

"Yas! Get switched on, we got to move!" Ramirez shouted as he smashed open the Samson's side door and got out of the wrecked vehicle. A moment later, Yas dropped down behind him and slumped up against the wrecked assault car.

Next to a corner, a Titan returned fire from cover. Over the Titan's PA the Pilot called out, "You were saying?"

"Districts 10 and 11 have been cleared! No sign of Barker or MacAllan."

"They must be here! Keep looking!" The pilot called back. The billboard the Pilot was shooting at exploded sending another rocket straight into the air.

A Grunt Captain waved Ramirez over. Ramirez pulled up a couple more of his guys and hustled over to the Captain.

"Report!" The Grunt Captain demanded.

"Squad Leader, Iker Ramirez, Lambda Squad." Ramirez gave a quick salute as he shouted over the drumming of automatic fire.

"Ramirez! I need your squad to shore up the apartments here. The Market across the way has automatic fire pinning down our advance and until a second ago, we had cleared that goddamn Up Mart building. Fucking SRS! They're slaughtering us down here." The Captain slammed his fist against the wall.

Ramirez looked back at his squad. There were only five of them now. They hadn't even had a chance to get a shot off before three of his men had been killed. Same shit just a different day. "Alright, let's kill some outlaws." He pulled back on the charging handle of his carbine.

* * *

Mayumi sat aboard the Goblin as it descended towards Angel City. From up here, she could see the stacks of smoke swirl up from the city as the riots and terrorist attacks erupted around the city. Graves had confirmed that Kodai and SRS insurgents had armed rebel groups inside the city. Now the two of them were causing havoc in revenge for the "Troy Massacre". Mayumi could see it as interstellar corporate war. She remembered Kodai as the losing side of investors in the Titan Wars. Now, they were barely struggling to maintain their competitive edge against the IMC in the Core Worlds, their only chance was to loosen the IMC's hold on this last available market: The Frontier.

The rest of the squad had been issued C.A.R. Smgs for this mission, though Mayumi still retained her Smart Pistol as designated CC. Blisk had reported on the ground that the search teams were getting wiped out and that stronger firepower would be needed. Therefore, they had to update there arsenal for close quarters combat. That meant that Winters had to give up her trophy Hemlock for the time being for the slimer and more powerful carbine but Mayumi's Smart Pistol was already well adapted to close quarters.

Spyglass' voice came in over the radio, "In position. Pilots, prepare to disembark."

"Let's go!" Winters shouted over the turbines. Harper jumped first, followed by Barrett and then by Mayumi. She boosted before making land fall and took a quick look around. A convoy of Samsons lay in the middle of the road. One was smoldering, flames licking the air, the other was turned over on its side.

"Pilots," Blisk's voice chimed in, "SRS are using the rooftops and alleyways to reek hell on our search teams. Until we can clean up the market district, the Paladins can't get through. Hurry up and kill those terrorists. Blisk out."

"You heard him team," Winters relayed, "Stay frosty and check those roof tops."

Mayumi boosted up a wall and into a building running past a series of Grunts before flying out the other side. Once she was in mid-air she boosted again, zooming across the street and in through an open window. A militiaman was just coming up about to fire through the window, when her leg connected with his faceplate. Using her momentum as he provided a natural draw bridge down, she elbowed another terrorist in the neck. Mayumi whirled around the choking Grunt to use his body as a shield to set up the last second of her Smart Pistol and cleared the rest of the room with a series of snaps.

"Second floor of the Upmart cleared." She reported, twisting the neck of the terrorist in her arm, sending his limp body spinning to the ground.

"Enemy sniper KIA." Harper's chimed in.

"Alleyway by Kodai cleared of hostiles." Barrett said in a calm deep voice.

 _Damn did you see those pilots? They just cleared the area ahead of us!_ A grunt shouted excitedly. Ramirez had seen his old team go past him. A flame of envy flickered inside him. It should've been him leading that squad still.

"Move out of the way." A voice called, "You. Your squads' mostly intact, follow me."

"On who's authority? Oh, his." Yas said.

Ramirez looked back to see an assault Pilot variant, flash a command order from his wrist com with Blisk's face attached to it. He looked at the Pilot from his behind his facemask and growled to himself.

"What are you waiting on Grunt? Fall. In." The Pilot demanded.

"Yes, sir." Ramirez relinquished.

"You Grunts are so slow. I give a command, you follow it without delay. Hear me?" The Pilot shoved Ramirez. It took every ounce of strength Ramirez had to not shoot the Pilot right then and there. He could do it too. He was just a Pilot without a jump kit.

"Cleaver One, this is Blisk." The pilot's com chattered.

"This is Cleaver one, go ahead." He replied.

"Have you secured Lamba team for the sewers yet, over?"

The pilot looked at Ramirez for a second, "Had a little trouble but we're clear now."

"Useless gits. Hurry up and get those Grunts moving, eh? Blisk out."

The Pilot pushed the nearest Grunt back towards the exit, "You heard the man, assholes and elbows. Let's go!"

 _Blisk. That motherfucker. Even now, he's still fucking around with me._ Ramirez seethed under his facemask. _Now, I have to take orders from this piece of shit!?_

"Sir?" Yas prodded him.

"Let's go." Ramirez said coolly, shrugging him off.

* * *

"This is Bayonet Four!" A panicky Pilot relayed into Mayumi's ear, "My whole squad is down, SRS have us pinned by the docks. My whole squad is down! I need-" There was the sound of metal being rent and then some other mechanical noise that sounded like a cockpit opening.

"... is he still broadcasting?" A voice could be heard, "Good. Hold still, hold still. Ah, there." Mayumi could see the unknown broadcaster image appear on her HUD. "This is Captain Hainey of the Militia SRS. To all IMC Pilots in the harbor district, I urge you to surrender now. Those under your banner who lay down your arms now will be treated fairly. Those of you who persist will be... exterminated." To punctuate his meaning with the sound of flesh being squashed as the Pilot was squeezed between his Titan's fist, "I'll be waiting."

"That's big talk coming from a guy who's completely outnumbered." Winters commented.

"We're gonna go after him, right?" Harper said excitedly.

"Don't be stupid." Winters replied.

"What?"

"Because," Barrett answered, "That's what he wants. To draw attention away from MacAllan and Barker."

"Oh," Harper said embarrassed.

"Gah, how did you pass selection?" Winters sneered.

"I..." Harper choked out, clearly flustered.

"Forget it." Winters cut her off, "Continue the search. Barrett, you and Mayumi will assault the market from the roof."

"You got it." Barrett said.

"We need to break this stalemate quickly and get back control of this district." Winters ordered.

Mayumi rendezvoused with Barrett atop the Upmart. He was a big man and the CAR almost looked like an oversized pistol in his hands. He motioned for her stack up behind him. Mayumi did so, hefting the Smart pistol above her head.

"Tell me something," Barrett said to her, "when did you get to become CC?"

Mayumi made a small gasp and then got her courage, "When Mercer was thrown off a cliff after I put him in my Titan to safeguard him."

Barrett chuckled, "Some folks get all the luck. Grendel?"

"Shot by a railgun protecting Harper."

"That's bullshit. She's so fresh, her armor is still shinny. Is it true about Ramirez though?"

"He was reassigned."

"Say what?" Barrett looked surprised.

"Yeah, he was made a Grunt squad leader by Blisk."

"Well shit. Right, let's get in there then. Watch for snipers." Barrett sonar pulsed the building. "Most of them are facing our guys, if you approach on the right through the skylight you should be able to catch 'em with their pants down."

"Roger." Mayumi dropped a stim, her focus turning to tunnel vision as she sprinted forward boosting towards the wall and then launching forward. She flew through the air, landing in a baseball slide towards the open skylight and dropping in. Mayumi rolled forward through an open doorway; the Smart Pistol already picking up targets. The Militia were across the open landing paying no heed to her entrance. When the lock on had finished she snapped off five targets. The computer guided bullets finding their marks instantaneously.

Seeing their comrades slump over, the other terrorists turned to fire on her but Barrett dropped in above them. He kicked one Grunt into the other and let off a spray of bullets finishing the lot of them off. He quickly tore out a mag and slapped a new one in.

"Clear?" Barrett scanned the floor.

"Clear." Mayumi responded.

"This is Two," Barrett said into his mic, "Top floor of the market cleared. Proceeding to-"

An SRS Pilot leapt up from the gap between the floors, scoring hits on Mayumi's armor. By instinct she rolled behind cover and jabbed herself with a stim. She could hear Barrett's CAR fire off rounds as the enemy Pilot boosted around the market's top floor. Mayumi did a roll landing in a crouched firing position letting the Smart Pistol track the Pilot.

He was fast. The terrorist was able to move fast enough to keep her tracker from locking on. Mayumi had to try and lead the target to keep the hold on them. The Pilot suddenly dipped back below the gap in the floors and Barrett's rounds almost struck her.

"Shit!" He yelled out.

Mayumi kept moving, quickly turning towards the stairwell to her right. She leapt against the wall on her left side to gain momentum. As she came out of the stairwell, she was hit by a swift kick that threatened to send her out a window. Mayumi grabbed the sill and pulled herself back in, using her abs to shove herself back into the building faster.

Quickly acting, she knocked the R-101 aside, the bullets ricocheting off the walls and out of the outlaw's hands. The terrorist's knee came up to hit in the stomach and she just barely squeezed out of the way. She threw a straight jab towards his faceplate but he grabbed it with his left hand and rotated it, spinning her around and pinning her.

Not to be taken out so easily, Mayumi brought up her leg and kicked off the wall sending them both sprawling back. Being that close, she could hear the man curse to himself as they toppled backward. He hit the floor and Mayumi rolled over him and sprawled out onto the floor. They both faced each other for a moment before they each struggled to pull out a sidearm. Mayumi's training taught her push and vault like a lizard onto her back. The bullet from the SRS missed her as it traveled between her armpit almost striking her in her heart. Her shot was more successful striking the terrorist in the arm. She fired another successful shot, this time into his collar before Barrett's CAR burst struck the man in his back.

Barrett leapt down, deftly landing on the guard rail before simply dropping off next to the Pilot bleeding out. He put his foot down hard on the Milita Pilot's back, squeezing the last bit of life out of him and sending him off quicker. Then he looked over at Mayumi.

"You good?"

She got up to her feet and placed another round in the helmet of the SRS Pilot, "Better."

Militia troops came up both sides of the market as they flooded upwards to retake their position. Barret quickly put bullets in their direction, while Mayumi sunk rounds expertly into the helmets of the Grunts. In a matter of seconds the terrorists fell to the deck.

"Hold your fire! Friendlies coming up." Winters CAR poked around the corner of the stairs followed a second later by her coming up from the stairwell, "Ground floor's clear."

"Got ourselves an SRS Pilot. That's an extra five-kay." Barrett said happily.

"Maybe more if he's a top ranker." Winters added.

"Shit, let's a take a look." He crouched down to pop off the enemy helmet. It took some effort but eventually Barrett was able to pry off the helmet. There wasn't much to look at. The Pilot's face was burnt and dirty with shards of glass and metal buried in from the gun shot. Mayumi turned away it. You can't think of them as people, she had told herself at Whitehead.

"This is Dagger One," Winters relayed into her mike, "Confirmed, another SRS Pilot neutralized."

"Good work," Blisk responded, "Who got the kill now?"

Winters looked over at both Barrett and Mayumi for an answer. Barrett pointed over to her. "it's her first SRS, she can have this one."

"Dagger Three, Mayumi Sato." Winters relayed back.

Blisk chuckled, "I knew there was a killer in her. Have your team proceed to the docks. Bayonet and Razor teams have gone dark. Get in there and mop it up!"

"Did he make all the callsigns different types of knives?" Barrett shook his head.

"I know, what an asshole." Winters remarked while closing her fist so that only a small hole shown through imitating what that part of the body looked like.

"Ramirez! Get this gate open!" Cleaver One shook his gun in the direction of the sewer release valve.

"Yas, Cortez." Ramirez relayed the order for the door be open. As soon as the door was open, the Pilot slid through and began using the walls to make speed.

 _Damn, he moves fast. I put in a requisition last year for the Pilot program._ A Grunt commented.

 _Yeah? Did you hear back?_

 _No. They said the request got corrupted._

 _That's tosh. They probably just deleted it._

"Cut the chatter." Ramirez hissed. The squad moved in a zig-zag formation down the dark sewer tunnels. The flashlights on the ends of their rifles barely illuminating ten feet in front of them.

"Ramirez," Cleaver One's demanding tone blared in his headset, "Recon drone detected possible heat signatures to the east. Set your team in the sewer control room just a klick from my current position."

"Understood. Team, let's hustle. Possible sighting of Militia just ahead!"

"Is it MacAllan?" Yas asked.

"Unknown, Cleaver One is proceeded ahead to check it out. We're taking the control room."

They arrived at the sewer control center about seven minutes later. Cleaver One was already there. He was leaning against a wall by one of the main terminals. Ramirez's team pulled into the room doing a standard sweep.

"Don't bother," Cleaver One got up and hopped over a desk, "I had so much time on my hands I checked the room twice. You stop to sight see?" Cleaver one pushed past Ramirez, "You and you. You have any satchel charges?"

"Yes, sir." The Grunts replied.

"Good, get 'em out! Come on!" Cleaver One said impatiently.

The two grunts broke down their packs to retrieve the satchel charges. Cleaver One hoovered over them until they were able to get them out. When they did, he snatched it from their hands and clipped the charges to his belt.

"Hold here." He barked at them and took off deeper into the tunnels.

 _Prick._ One of the Grunts said under their breath. Ramirez turned around and began ordering his squad. "Come on Lambda, let's show him how IMC Marines conduct themselves. Yas, get on the controls and bring up access points. I want to see all exits from this station. Cortez, set up firing positions. I want clear lines of sights on that tunnel right below us."

Barrett let out a small whistle from under his helmet. The SRS had done a number on the two teams. Razor and Bayonet's Titans were broken and scattered around the areas leading to the docks. It looked as though Razor had been able to penetrate the deepest, their last known position putting them outside the docking warehouses.

From what they could see, the main loading square had been converted into a staging area. From there the SRS was taking in supplies and troops to fund their uprising. As soon as Winters heard she got on the radio for air support to lock down the skies to put a stop to it.

With air support on the way, they were ready to make their move. From what they could piece together was that Razer and Bayonet had been able to take down three of the SRS Pilots which presumably left three more in the field. From their vantage point they couldn't see any of the SRS but several Militia squads fortifying the Storage facility and near by apartments.

"To all Pilots," Blisk's voice popped up, "Paladins have finally arrived at the harbor district. We're moving to secure the Kodai building and from there to the main loading docks. All callsigns are to engage high enemy strengths before they're mopped up by the infantry. We believe the Militia are trying to buy time for MacAllan and Barker to escape and we need to shut off all access off world as soon as possible. Blisk out."

In the distance, the twin barrels of the Paladin tanks began to fire followed a few moments later by what looked like the Upmart crumbling but it was hard to say. Winters brought up her wrist com and displayed the holo-projection of the harbor district. She took a knee as she began to punch up the display to focus on the loading docks.

"You heard it team. So heres the idea and feel free to pitch in. Ideally we would outnumber them two to one, had we been at full strength. Instead, we should focus on drawing them into situations where we can eliminate them two or three to one. We have that one cocky bastard on the horn, we can use that to our advantage."

"You're thinking a Rabbit?" Barrett pointed out.

"Exactly. Barrett, Mayumi and I, will stay in designated positions while Harper draws them in."

"You want me to go out there?" Harper protested.

"Lowest on the totem, rook." Winters clucked her tongue.

"There has to be a better idea. What about we pair up again and engage them?"

"No," Winters said flatly, "They'll just hold us off until they can get MacAllan off world. A lone Titan has better chance of drawing them out."

"Winters," Barrett leaned over lowering his voice, "This sounds a lot like Ramirez, not you."

"So what if it is?" Winters shouted, "it doesn't change the fact that this plan, puts the least of us at risk. Now Harper, you need to maneuver in a zig-zag to avoid their fire." Winters continued.

"Winters." Barrett also protested, "We can attack from two directions as a pincer. We don't need to dangle bait."

"Y-yea, exactly. Wot he said." Harper pointed to Barrett excitedly.

"Harper, listen to me," Winters continued ignoring them both, "Focus, use the buildings for cover and lead them to us. You can make as many rotations as you need to."

Barrett threw up his hands, "So if the first pass doesn't work you'll throw bad bait back? Come on, this is bullshit."

 _It should be me._ Mayumi thought to herself. She pulled out of the circle and designated a drop point for her Titan. Seconds later, the warpfall shot her Titan into the street where she jumped out and let her Titan catch her and gently put her in the cockpit.

"Mayumi! What the hell are you doing!" Winters shouted over the radio.

"I'll do it. I've survived more combat engagements with multiple opponents then Harper has. Just put her somewhere she won't miss."

"Mayumi!" Winters yelled at her. Mayumi cut the link. She needed to focus. She examined the Titan's loadout, exactly the specifications she needed. Her Styrder was outfitted with a XO chaingun, electric fog counter measures, and lock-on rockets. Light and quick.

 _Nimr... Please just wait a little longer._

"Broadcasting on an open frequency to all Militia SRS, this is Pilot Mayumi Kino I know you're listening."

Mayumi moved her Titan towards a storage facility. From here she could see the deep blue polluted waters of the Angel Sea. The streets were quiet with no movement. Above her was the looming presence of the _Sentinel_ dominating the air. It's anti-airship guns swatting Militia transports out of the air.

"So while you're listening," Mayumi continued, "Let me ask you a question. You call us extortionists, land grabbers, among other things. But you yourselves are just as guilty. I know you leverage innocents into joining your cause. Hold food at ransom. Extort pity from colonial farmers. What you claim we do, you do yourselves! Yet in the Core Worlds, billions of people suffer everyday, you would have them pay for your own selfishness!?"

A gruff deep laugh answered her question. "Spoken like a true IMC lap dog. And you think your cause is just because the need is greater on your side? I've seen worlds the IMC has ruined beyond repair in the name of so called 'industry'. Hammond cares for nothing but more credits. If the Core Worlds are suffering so miserably, then perhaps the IMC should focus it's attention there instead of destroying our worlds!"

 _There, he's behind me._ The pitch in his voice rose towards the end that made her think he had found her. Mayumi dropped electric fog and boosted sideways behind another building. A few rounds of a 40 mil zoomed past her confirmed her suspicions.

"A few planets are lost and you start a war? I suppose, you fought on the wrong side of the Titan Wars too. Joined the Militia so you could pretend to be righteous again. You're just a terrorist with a chip on your shoulder." She had been creeping along the building using the openings to find the SRS Titan. Mayumi found an opening large enough, she locked on and fired her rockets into the air. That way they would travel in an arc and not hit the buildings.

The enemy pilot pulled forward to evade and Mayumi followed in parallel until he fell in front of the row of buildings she was using. When he hit the clearing, she opened fire on him with her chaingun, scoring numerous hits to his body shield. He recovered quickly enough with his vortex shield throwing the rounds back at her. By that time, Mayumi was already moving again hidden behind cover.

"Not bad but I bet you're not ready for this!" The Terrorist Pilot called out. Mayumi's screen suddenly filled with lock ons from multiple directions. _Archers. That's how they brought down so many Titans!_ Mayumi's mind raced for a response. She pointed her chain gun at the nearest green helmet she could see in a window and tried to take down as many of them as she could.

She was able to get a few of them but several smashed her body shield before she could safely pull out of the killzone. Mayumi was moving fast and couldn't decelerate in time and smashed into a strip of bars. Suddenly, she realized that she needed to breathe. She made huge deep breathes and pulled her Titan out of the destroyed hovel.

Now it was her turn to chuckle, "You're the ones that brought this on yourselves. Had you just accepted terms. Nimr. Nimr never would've had to die!" Her Titan pulled free of the twisted metal and righted itself upwards. There was minor damage to the legs but it wasn't critical.

The SRS Pilot was there moving for her, trying to close the distance for the kill. Using her XO like a staff she curled under and smashed into the enemy Atlas. With a burst of strength using the chaingun as a bar, she lifted the enemy Titan into the air and bringing it back down pinning it on its back. Before the enemy Pilot could recover she locked on with every rocket she had and fired all of them into his cockpit. There was just a brief scream as the Titan was obliterated and his comm line lost.

Her Titan was sorched and had taken a large amount of frontal damage but her body shield returned. She examined the remains of her XO chaingun. The belt had exploded leaving just the grip and stock still in intact. She tossed the useless weapon away.

"Looks like your friend didn't make it." Mayumi muttered into the open frequency.

"You think you'll last longer?" The voice of the SRS captain filled the air waves.

Mayumi cracked a little grin, "There you are captain."

"Despite your insinuations, Pilot Toraldo was a good man."

"Not good enough clearly." She replied icily.

"After what you did, you think you're hands are clean?"

"No," Mayumi paused, "I'm asking you if you're doing the right thing!" She boosted forward as fast as she could. The small roller wheels on the balls of the Stryder barely holding onto the ground. Mayumi got a few rockets to lock on before she fired another electric smoke to vanish behind again. She was vulnerable to being rodeoed with how often she was dropping the smoke but the Titans were her bigger worry. As long as she kept on the defensive, she'd be fine.

"And you think you can judge us?" Captain Hainey fired back, "You brought us into this fight! A fight we weren't even a part of! That was the Core Worlds tearing themselves apart! We are not responsible for your mistakes!" The SRS appeared in front of her at firing distance with his XO-16 beating her shield. Despite it she kept charging him despite it nearly depleting her shield. In the street there was no other cover. He had her unless...

It was instinct. Some force had somehow propelled her upward. A feat, that normally was impossible for a Titan's weight and size. The SRS Titan kept pouring on fire. She was an easy target to lead in the air but against all his better judgement the Pilot was frozen to the spot like stone. The enemy chaingun's bullets ripped the door to the cockpit off. He could see her directly now as she fell through the air. Exposed, that at any second a bullet could enter ending her life but oddly she wasn't troubled by this. Peaceful as if Nimr was right by her side. Mayumi could almost feel his warmth again.

 _Nimr. I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise._

The Titans slammed into each other. Mayumi bounced around in her seat. The noise of two solid objects screeching into each other tore at her ear drums. The Stryder Titan's momentum pulled the two of them forward renting the cement and tearing down signs and stray cars. Mayumi hung off her seat but her eyes didn't deviate from the SRS Titan's cameras. If he was gonna kill her, he'd have to look her in the face as he did.

Nothing.

The enemy Pilot didn't react after what felt like a good series of seconds. What she felt was going to be her death hadn't happened. She felt cheated. In that brief moment, she had felt closer to Nimr in a year and now it was gone. Her head went warm with anger and frustration. Chemicals in her system firing throwing everything into a rage.

"You wanted a fight? Well here it is!" She screamed.

She lifted her Stryder's fist and smashed the cockpit. The first two hits mad large dents but didn't puncture. The third one made a hole that she was able to rip off the cockpit doors. The Militia Pilot was there frozen to stone, maybe even dead. For all the talk of the SRS being hard to kill, this man would be her third in a day.

She kept hitting his Titan over and over, beating it as hard as she could throw her Titan's fist. Mayumi beat it until the power in the Titan died and the lights faded from the cameras. She half-expected the reactor to go off, hoping then she'd still be able to exit this world in some other fashion. As the last of her anger ended and the endorphins died down, the last connection she had to Nimr faded. Mayumi couldn't feel anything, if was as if she was outside of herself.

She felt this way even an hour later when the operation was completed and they returned to the _Sentinel_. Mayumi heard later that Barrett had goosed the other Pilot as she tried to eject. Paladins patrolled the streets as Grunts rounded up suspected sympathizers for immediate execution. Mayumi didn't care, she felt hallow inside.

* * *

"Yas, how are we doing on those exits?" Ramirez checked his firing port as he asked the Corporal.

"I've found at least five the Militia could use to escape from the sewers."

"Okay, track those back to useable Lzs or Pzs." Ramirez tasked him.

"Yes, sir." Yas replied.

"Cleaver One," Ramirez spoke into the mike, "We're identifying possible Militia exits from this substation, over."

"Heh, good idea." Cleaver One responded, "You Grunts are actually useful for once. But don't bother, I'll take care of this."

"Sir!" Yas called him.

"What is it Corporal?"

"Cleaver One is headed towards a dead end."

Ramirez dismissed it, "I'm sure there's a breach or something he can see."

"No, sir."

"What?" Ramirez walked over to the console. There it was as plain to see. That idiot of a Pilot he was attached to was running straight to a dead end.

"Cleaver One, be advised there's no route ahead."

"Christ, yes, I know!" Cleaver One replied irritatedly, "I'm checking to see if those rats have gone to ground."

Ramirez's face burned bright red with embarrassment. He was so angry in fact, he pulled off his helmet and chucked it across the room. "Yas have you found those fucking exit points yet!?" He roared.

"Sir..." Yas replied meekly and went back to work on the console.

 _How the fuck am I suppose to operate with all this fucking incompetence?_ Ramirez seethed to himself. He stewed in his rage for a few moments before he caught himself. The former pilot sighed deeply and wiped his face with his hand.

"Would someone get my helmet?" Ramirez pouted.

Approximately, five minutes later Yas exclaimed that he had discovered the best route the Militia would take to try and get Barker out of the city. Ramirez quickly snapped over to the console and examined the route. He noted the number of flood gates in the area. The route looked to bring the terrorists out to large section outside of the search zone.

"How knowledgable of the area do you think they are?" Ramirez asked.

"They probably have a egghead guiding them or equipment with schematics."

"What are these here?" Ramirez pointed to small blue boxes stationed at certain junctions.

"Let me see." Yas brought up the map legend and began to scroll through the list of items. He stopped at the blue box and Ramirez saw that they were intercoms. Probably for alerting maintenance staff on sewer traffic or emergencies. "There an intercom system sir. Probably for emergencies." Yas tapped the screen where the blue box was.

Ramirez tried to not sound annoyed by the information being repeated to him, "Good work." Ramirez brought up his wrist-com and brought up the list of drones local in the area. He quickly assigned them to avoid that route. "These intercoms are they still operational?"

Yas quickly ran a system check, "Yes sir, they appear to be."

A noise vaguely sounding like a voice was coming from Ramirez's helmet. Ramirez clamly put it back on.

"...fuck you think you're doing Lamba One? You taking a massive piss?"

"Sir," Ramirez continued to reply calmly, "funneling the Militia into the only available exit."

"You're interfering with my search grid!" Cleaver One replied angrily.

"Yes, sir." Ramirez replied and pulled off his helmet again. He could hear the anger explode out of his helmet's mike.

"Squad Leader," Yas' voice quivering, "That's first grade treason." Ignoring one's superior was the lowest level of treason possible in the IMC. Ramirez knew for a fact it was committed casually on a daily basis by multiple Grunt squad leaders when issued orders by Pilots.

"He's an idiot," he said in his defense, "His search grid was ill defined and slow."

"Sir, it's a standard search sweep." Yas protested.

"Listen," Ramirez sighed, "Yas, if that Pilot catches MacAllan and Barker, we won't see any of the glory. But if we catch MacAllan, they'll make me a Pilot again." _Just not on this side._ "And who knows? Maybe one of you will be promoted too. I'll put in a good word." Even behind their masks, Ramirez could see that they were starry eyed.

"So who wants to catch some outlaws?"

 _Sir, yes sir!_ The Grunts chorused. Pity, they wouldn't actually make it. Ramirez almost grinned to himself.

"Yas, close hatches and grid locks outside of the search area. Cortez, dissemble our firing lanes and prepare to move out. We'll reset..." he scrolled the computer display until he saw a site he liked, "at grid: two-zero-point-one-one-five."

Cortez brought up the site on his wrist and nodded he understood.

"Alright, Yas, I'll take over from here. I'll direct you in."

"Sir, pardon my saying so, but shouldn't you keep someone else here with you?"

"No time, we need maximum firepower at the ambush site. I'll link up with Cleaver One when we're set."

"Y-yes, sir." Yas hesitated but did as he was ordered.

As soon as they left, Ramirez brought up the screen and searched for Cleaver One's position. Once he'd found it, Ramirez checked the frequency of the intercoms. Every so often he would let one click on and then off. Just enough for a brief burst of noise. When Cleaver One didn't make mention of it to him, he buzzed him instead.

"Uh, Cleaver One, there seems to be some interference from the drones."

"You probably fucked something up. I don't have time to fix all your small problems." As he finished his sentence, Ramirez buzzed an alarm. Even from where he was, Ramirez could hear it faintly. "What the shit, Lambda One. Get your Grunts in line or I **will** do it for you!"

"Sir, its automated. We need your data-knife to override the system."

"Always fucking something with you people. I'm on my way, out." Cleaver One replied peeved.

"Good." Ramirez said aloud to himself, it wouldn't be too long before Cleaver One would get here. In the meantime, Ramirez checked his belt for a satchel charge.

Some time later Cleaver One boosted into the room from the nearby causeway. He quickly scanned the room seeing only Ramirez left and no Grunts at all.

"The fuck is this?" Cleaver One demanded.

Ramirez quickly unholstered his sidearm and put two rounds in Cleaver One's faceplate. His double tap was nearly perfect. The time he and Winters had competed against each other had honed that particular action. Cleaver One fell to the deck like a sack of bricks.

"I've decided to renegotiate my contract."

Ramirez strode over to the body and began to unstrap Cleaver One's jump kit. It would take a minute for the jump kit to reconfigure to him. That was fine. He felt more like himself with just it on anyways. The balance just wasn't quite the same without it on. He then proceeded to take Cleaver One's data-knife and extra satchel charges.

He went back to the console and did a recheck for any other teams in the sewers. Ramirez was a little jumpy after he did and wanted to be sure he had gotten away with the whole thing. Sweep looked clean. The drones were still redirected and nothing looked out of the ordinary. As long as the Militia hadn't already cleared the sewers, Ramirez would be able to get out.

His next problem was what to do with the Grunts still camped out along the exit route. It was best to get rid of them as well. Best to look like no one made it out of the sewers alive. He boosted out the main sewage control room towards where he had sent the squad.

Boosting through the sewers was much different than sledging through it. The walls were still a slick brown color that Ramirez didn't want to think about. Ahead was the ambush spot that he had established with his Grunts. It had only been a couple of days but Ramirez was confident he still had the reflexes to do a fly by.

Ramirez boosted to the right side wall, his legs powering himself forward as the boost kit kept his speed at a running pace. The opening became larger and in front of him was an open room with a concrete island towering above the sludge below. Ramirez eyed the island as he leapt off the sewer tunnel wall and towards the bottom of the islands concrete sides. He landed a little oddly but with no harm and then boosted off the concrete island to the large room's nearby wall and did this multiple times as he bounced up the side of the island. He was near the top and the bounce off the far wall which would put him opposite the Grunts as he descended towards them. Ramirez was worried that they would know that they would fire on him.

"Shit!" One of the Grunts cried and a startled burst escaped from his 101-c.

A hand was already coming down to stop the trooper's burst from striking Ramirez. He could see that it was Cortez's hand staying the burst. Ramirez was already jumpy and the shot was a match that had struck a fuse. It set him off.

They were perfectly placed shots. The first burst struck the trooper who had misfired. The second struck Cortez. Three and four went down easy, their guns still held in disbelief of the situation. Something they weren't trained for and hesitation was a bullet through the head for them. Yas. Ramirez hadn't counted on one of them actually shooting at him . Yas had lead his shot and it went straight through Ramirez's shoulder. His shooting arm too no less.

It was a ungraceful landing. A mid-air spin into a roll that collided with, rather than knocked, Yas off his feet. The two tangled and rolled trying to win the upper hand. Ramirez came out on top with his superior Pilot strength and quickly smashed Yas' windpipe with his forearm. Remorse and guilt made Ramirez rise and put a clean round in Yas' faceplate. Ramirez was a traitor now. For that he knew he would burn but before then Ramirez knew his future would brighter than the fires of hell.

And then something struck him in the back of the head.

He awoke some time later, his head pounded and his neck was sore. He was surrounded by several people, their lack of gray and silver was a sure sign of what side they were on.

"Copy that. We're moving out! Advise fighters to target the MegaCarrier's aft stabilizer." Ramirez recognized MacAllan's voice from the Colony broadcasted from a couple days ago.

"MacAllan, our fighters can't take the sentinel down. There's no way." A woman's voice replied back. Ramirez had never heard her voice before.

"They don't have to take her down," MacAllan said back, "Just hurt her."

Ramirez tried to move his arms but they were bound behind his back as well as his feet. He wriggled like a constrained worm against his bonds. One thing he was lucky about though, was that they hadn't killed him out right. It wasn't how he wanted it to go down but he still had a chance to talk himself out of it.

"It's a suicide mission." The female voice said.

"Trust me- Launch the fighters." MacAllan said in a knowing voice.

"Sarah," Another voice spoke over the com, this time male. "He's in command now. I'm launching the fighters. Hornets, target the Sentinel's aft stabilizer." _Sarah._ Ramirez mulled over the name for minute. That couldn't be the Sarah Briggs could it?

"Ah lookey lookey, see who's awake!" A gruff voice said with another ping of familiarity to it. A pair of hands grabbed Ramirez by his shoulders and set him upright. A Militia pilot in CQC gear starred at him. He was dark tanned with a red haired beard that stretch across his face and skipped his chin entirely.

"I still say we should ice 'im." A drunk voice said, Ramirez recognized Barker's face from the briefing materials.

"Yea." The red beard agreed toting a wingman in front of him.

"No," MacAllan intervened, "Bish, you sure you found the right person?"

"Positive." The male voice said over MacAllan's wrist com unit.

"Good." MacAllan walked over to Ramirez. The red bearded man hesitantly moved out of the way but still trained his eyes on Ramirez. "We know what you did. You took quite a risk."

Ramirez starred right back at MacAllan's forehead using his interrogation training automatically. "It was, huh."

"Well Pilot, you know the deal. What's your offer?" MacAllan said.

Pilot. Ramirez liked the sound of it. The respect and prestige. With all the shit he'd gone through in the last few days, the sound of it made him feel strong again.

"I want in. Fuck the IMC."

"Easy to say, starring down the barrel of a gun, eh?" The red beard cocked back the hammer of his Wingman.

"I think red would be a nice change of color on his uniform." Barker chuckled.

Ramirez starred back at MacAllan unflinching, "My name is Iker Ramirez. I've killed six IMC loyalists and already helped you escape. I'm dead either way. I just want to be a pilot again."

MacAllan nodded, "Cut his legs loose. Barker keep an eye on him and give Vlocke back his shotgun, take his wingman instead. Bish, is the channel still clear?"

"Still holding, Mac." Bish replied.

"Good, we're en route." MacAllan signaled the group to leave.

"I want Lucy back." Vlocke, the red bearded man, said to Barker.

"You name all your guns?" Barker burped.

"Just the ones I like." Vlocke retorted.

It crossed Ramirez's mind that perhaps the Militia wasn't the better alternative he thought it would be. If they had Pilots like this Vlocke guy, there might be a reason why they were losing in the first place. However, if it meant that he could be a Pilot again, consequences be damned. Ramirez applauded himself, the Militia were using the route he had had Yas determine. No drones, no loose ends. Shit, he might of made it too easy in fact. His face warmed a little from the embarrassment. Ramirez cursed himself and hoped no one noticed.

The rest of the trip was quiet and tense. Most of the noise came from MacAllan and Bish going back and forth for navigation and status updates. From what he picked up SRS upstairs were pulling hit and run as best they could but the noose was tightening. All they were waiting on was for the _Sentinel_ to get put out of action so they could jump in and extract the rest of the troops. MacAllan was good. Put a lot of planning into this. _Says a lot about IMC training._ Ramirez couldn't help but think to himself.

They came out to a grating and Vlocke kicked it open. The group assembled around the concrete wall that housed the grating. Ramirez saw a large grass field that stretched for about a kilometer though it was probably no wider than a football field. Ramirez saw that they were outside of the Harbor District.

"Sarah, where are we on the _Sentinel_?" MacAllan asked.

"Standby... standby..." There was a loud crack as the sound of the stabilizer exploded, "Now! Sending in dropships."

Ramirez turned his head to the sky to see several Crow dropships warp in. Without the stabilizer the _Sentinel_ wouldn't be able to maintain it's orbit around Angel City without being pulled down to the planet's surface and would have to pull out. MacAllan had known. Ramirez was beginning to see why Graves saw him as so dangerous.

"Macaw Actual this is Desperado 1-1, en route to LZ Bear. 15 seconds out, over." A drawled voice spoke over the com.

"Copy, Desperado. Marking LZ on your HUD." MacAllan replied.

"Confirmed. Coming in." The dropship pilot drawled again. There was a brief burst of light as the Crow dropship flew in out of it's warp. The older styled dropship careened in for a landing touching down on the grass. Ramirez noted the two crossed flintlock pistols on the nose of the ship. Particularly he noticed that it was in need of a touch up as most of the bottom portion had been flaked off from multiple reentries. The side door to the dropship slid open revealing the co-pilot with a black bag in hand.

"Caught yourself a Pilot?" The co-pilot joked.

"Yes we did." MacAllan replied as he grabbed the co-pilot's hand and was brought aboard the shuttle. Barker shoved Ramirez forward and the co-pilot quickly slid the bag over his head. He was roughly hauled into the Crow, banging his head on something.

"Watch it," the co-pilot said flatly.

"Oi, I want my gun back B-bear." Vlocke demanded.

"Hey uh, let me hold on to it for a little longer. We're bonding." Barker replied with a grin before he took a swig with loud gulps.

"Lucy is my wingman." Vlocke growled. There were more foot falls of other people coming on board.

"Six plus one on board. We're a little heavy, aren't we sir?" The co-pilot joked.

"If we can't lift off, we can dump the plus one." The pilot laughed, "Standby for take off."

Ramirez was strapped into a bench on his side. Even through the black bag the warp light still blurred his vision as they fired off through atmo. He wasn't dead yet. Which at this point wasn't an indication of a good or bad thing.

* * *

"You cocked up the whole operation." It was the first time in several years that Graves had heard Dr. Hammond swear, though today it was first time directed at him. Vice-admiral Horne had been sacked immediately after planet Ares was raided giving birth to the first Militia Fleet. A week later his entire ship botched a warp drive destroying the entire vessel. An overheated failsafe value connecting the warp drive to the coolant systems was ruled the cause of the problem. Everyone knew it was sabotaged but no one was stupid enough to say it out loud. Graves also knew that most civilians tended to not view the whole battlefield objectively and let their judgement cloud their view. Hammond, however, was not like most civilians and often his judgement was more impartial than Graves.

Graves starred back at the holo-projection of Dr. Hammond in his quarters. Behind it loomed the planet and Angel City bright as a star on it's surface. The vice-admiral choose his words carefully. He knew well enough that Hammond wanted results so he gave him what he had.

"We've exposed the link between Kodai and the Milita. Several of their main assets are being destroyed or seized here planet side as well as within multiple systems. The Militia also took a severe beating resource wise, suffering critical loses to their aircraft and their SRS squadrons. Meanwhile, all broadcasts of the Planet Troy Incident are being suppressed and reeducation camps are being established to make sure there can never be another uprising." In military terms, it was a total victory. The Militia's main objective of retrieving Barker had succeeded but they paid a high price for it. Even as they drove the _Sentinel_ from the AO, Grunts and ground assets had nearly overrun the last of the defenders and local airbases mopped up any stragglers.

"You must cut off the head of the snake, Graves." Dr. Hammond rubbed his temple, "Or it will come back to bite you. Only you and MacAllan knew of the playbook and it's contents regarding the vulnerabilities of our fleet. Every moment he breathes is another moment he spends plotting against us. See that my faith in you was not misplaced." The holo sputtered off.

Graves put his hands behind his back staring at the planet below. He had Blisk working his search teams double time in order to scour what remained of the city in case MacAllan and Barker we're planet side but he had a feeling it was just a diversion. MacAllan was a master of guerrilla tactics and used his cat's-paws effectively.

"Helmsman," Graves ordered over the intercom, "Put us on course for the shipyards at Artemisium." If he was going to chase after MacAllan again, the _Sentinel_ was going to have to be repaired. In the mean time, he would use this opportunity to regroup and plan his next move.

* * *

Alright big chapter done! As always, thanks so much for reading and I'm happy to say these are coming out much quicker than before! A small side note, as far descriptions go they're usually 1:1 with the map but this time I took liberties with the size of the harbor district and so some parts won't mesh up because I imagined that there would be a few blocks in between land marks. So unless it's explicitly stated, just keep that in mind.


	9. Chapter 5A: A Horse of Bohrium

Freeport System

1st Militia Fleet

2145, March 9th 1616h

Barker stumbled over the entrance of a door. Sarah could smell his breath from half way across the room. Behind him, MacAllan and the trio of former officers followed him into the room. Bish was still readying the comm system to announce their next move to the Fleet. Just as he was about to tell their new general that it was online Barker grabbed the microphone from his hands.

"You guys are all going to die a horrible death! All I wanted was my damn drink and you took me away from my happy place."

"Give me that thing!" Barker dodged Bish as he tried to grab the mic back.

The drunken pilot chuckled to himself. "I know what you got planned, Mac. Knew the second you came to drag me out of there. But that _Sentinel_ is everywhere in your way. It's gonna kick your ass no matter what you try." He pulled out a flask and took a long pull.

Bish looked over at MacAllan. "Hold on Mac – is this clown suggesting we take down an IMC super carrier?"

"I've done it before." MacAllan replied.

"That's cuz you don't know how to fly!" Barker pointed at him accusingly. "Crashing a carrier on a backwater planet's not the same as – shootin' one on the move!"

"That's why we're going to take it down while it's sitting still."

"So that's why you sent the Hornets after it. You knew it would go back to dry dock." Sarah pieced together.

"Uh Mac, the mic's still on." Bish grabbed the microphone back and cleared his throat. "Those of you who, uh, missed that, we're taking down the IMC Super-carrier _IMS Sentienl_. That's it. Pilots, suit up and stand by." Bish clicked off the mic, so as to avoid another incident.

Sarah shook her head, "So what do you have planned?"

MacAllan eyed Barker first making sure he was done raving. "Simple. We use an older ship as a Trojan Horse."

"A what?" Bish replied puzzled.

"In Greek myth, they built a horse of wood to infiltrate Troy and take over the city. Using only an elite force they opened the gate for the entire Greek army. In this case, a horse made of bohrium plating."

"You can't be serious." Bish's frown deepened.

"We use one of the older ships in the Fleet to draw the fire of their guns. That shouldn't affect our strength too much. When the IMC take it out, that's our chance to sneak troops onto the station and hijack their Anti Orbital Defense guns."

"And then we take out the _Sentinel._ " Sarah finished. "I like it."

"This is part of your play book, huh?" Bish asked.

"That's right." MacAllan confirmed.

"Won't Graves be expecting us?" Sarah asked concerned.

"A lot of the scenarios were, uh, hypothetical." MacAllan rubbed the top of his head. "Graves played Silver team while I played Green. We usually had to cheat to in order make the scenarios viable. Sorta like right now."

Barker laughed, "See, that's just great! We're playin' some sorta – imaginary game." Barker waves his hands in front of his face like a ghost.

MacAllan looked at both Bish and Sarah, seeing their concerned looks. "Trust me."

"Trust me, he says." Barker mumbled to himself as he took the last swig from his flask.

Bish let out a long sigh, "Okay, Mac. What'd'ya need?"

"The AOD guns will most likely be protected by OSET encryption. We'll have to crack that before we can hijack the guns."

"OSET? I've heard their security is unbreakable. That's good, I need something to do after lunch." Bish replied stretching out his fingers making satisfying cracks.

"Good. Use whatever you can find from the files we pulled from the _Odyssey_. Sarah, find a ship that won't be too missed from the Fleet."

"You got it." Sarah saluted and went off to the bridge.

"Barker," MacAllan looked at his old wingman, "We could use you."

"Nope. If we're all gonna die, I'd like to be drunk."

* * *

"Well that was quite an outburst there, wasn't it?" Captain Aubrey Sho'ko of the _MCS Montana_ observed dryly before hiding her face behind a mug of coffee.

"Aye, Captain." Her Lieutenant Commander agreed.

"Well," She said setting the mug down. "What do you make of it?"

"An assault on the shipyard? Not within our capacity. Even at our fullest naval power."

"So impossible then?"

"More than likely. General MacAllan was a legend back in the day and he is former IMC. But he's been out of the war for fifteen years. Things move fast, his intelligence is outdated."

"That's possible." She accepted.

"Nothing possible about it. I'm certain." Her LC's gruff exterior puffing up.

Sho'ko looked out the tempered glass of the bridge at a swirling green and purple was hard to believe that such serenity could exist during wartime. She felt enamored at the sight of the natural majesty of space. Aubrey's mind swam with nostalgia of her days back at college for geology. Initially coming to the Frontier to study and explore the exciting new reaches of the known universe. She had been a captain of a science vessel during early colonization plainly named the 'Explorer'. Ironically enough under an IMC license too. Now, here she was piloting a ship with a gun that had the diameter of five explorers combined against the IMC. Times did change didn't they?

Aubrey lifted her cup off the magnetic table and sipped the cold liquid, "Lieutenant Commander, I appreciate your estimation but that pessimism is unwelcome on this bridge. If we were all so bleak, I never would have-"

"Discovered the uranium deposit on Concord. Yes, Captain." Her LC noted dryly.

"Igor," She replied.

"Yes, Captain?"

"You're a prick."

LC Igor chuckled good naturedly, "Aye, Ma'am."

Though he had never complained openly, she herself felt that Igor was much more qualified to be a captain. He was much more intimate with naval strategy and weapons than she was, but Igor had turned it down for one reason or another. Aubrey was more than happy to captain the ship in his stead, besides she loved paperwork. The paperwork seemed to pile up when you were a captain. She even still had some of her old equipment set up on the ship to collect small pieces of data just to add to the pile.

" _Montana_ this is _Wolcott_ over." The smaller Colombia-class destroyer pinged their ship.

"This is Captain Sho'ko, go ahead _WolCott._ "

"This is Lansford. Go to Secure line, Sho'ko."

"LC, maintain course. Alert my cabin if you needed." Aubrey said as she lifted herself out of the chair.

"Aye." Igor responded.

Captain Sho'ko headed towards her cabin, unlatching the door and gave the old bulkhead a little push. She could already hear the chiming of the secure line from her desk. Aubrey clicked on the lamp and sat in the old beat up leather chair that passed for rich furniture. Instinctually, she brushed down her uniform and accepted the call.

The screen popped up an image of the _Wolcott's_ captain Lansford. He was a pale man with wrinkles and crow's feet and a thick bushy beard giving him the look of an ancient sea captain.

"Captain." Lansford acknowledged.

"Captain." Sho'ko replied.

"I wanted to inform you of something that's come up. We've received orders to run rearguard.

"Oh." Aubrey was struck odd by that.

"You can confirm our placement later with your XO but with this _Sentinel_ business that's come up, I think this has to do with the assault."

"How do you mean?"

"The AOD guns that surround the shipyard are basically impossible to penetrate from the outside or in. They would rip our fleet apart if we tried an all out assault. But they have a long cool down. I think MacAllan's plan is to throw a ship at the _Sentinel_ to put out the guns and then swing in with a bigger attack force."

"Sorry, I'm a scientist not a strategist." Sho'ko reminded Lansford.

"Aye, right. Um, what this means is they want to throw a CVE at it to minimize casualties. Since, my ship has been reassigned. That CVE is probably you." CVE was the fleet ship abbreviation for "civie" to differentiate between warships and non-combatants. Sho'ko had also heard civilian ships also described as: combustable, vulnerable, and expendable.

She got a nauseous feeling in her stomach and she covered her mouth before she had to puke. How could they do this to her? Sure the _Montana_ wasn't the best ship in the fleet but it was _her_ ship. That had to count for something. Fighting the IMC was important but the Miltia can't toss her away in some hopeless attempt could they?

"How... how sure are you?" She asked taking a breath.

"Well, if you haven't received notification of a new escort by the end of the hour. Then we'll know. _Wolcott_ out." Lansford cut the line.

* * *

Talea awoke to her cell door opening. Her back was sore from the stiff cell bed and her neck was cramped. She sat up and massaged the back of her neck, blinking her eyes to adjust to the light. Venick was there, fully kitted up with his helmet under his arm.

"Feeling up to an assignment?" He asked.

"What's happened?"

"We're assaulting the _Sentinel_."

"No shit."

Venick slowly shook his head. "No shit. Come on, I'll bring you up to speed on the way to the briefing room."

"What? No breakfast first?" She replied groggily

"No time, this is happening now."

The captain led her out of the brig giving a curt nod to the guard. They turned down a hallway before Venick grabbed her gently by the arm to slow her down, "Listen, before we go any further. I need to know where your head's at."

"I'm good to go."

"That's not what I meant. The burial for the losses during Fracture was yesterday."

Talea sighed.

"You knew."

"Look. I'm not proud of it. But I needed my squad to be full up."

"You should've told Vlocke."

"He doesn't need to grieve. You know what he did after he got back from Planet Victor? He started fights, did drugs, anything to take his mind off what had happened down there. If Vlocke doesn't have something to do he's going to fall apart. So I kept his barrel pointed towards the enemy."

"It won't work forever."

"It'll do for now." She fired back.

"Sure," Venick agreed, "Until it doesn't. Trust me. Pilots like him break. They always do."

Talea pulled her arm away from Venick and leaned against the wall. She was acted like a child but in her defense Venick was acting too much like a father. "Fine. He can stay But I'm taking Bartusky if she can run."

"She's can't. I stopped there first to see how she was doing. Still pretty busted up but healing."

"If she can't run, how about piloting a Titan?"

"I wouldn't risk it. There are still pedal controls that she won't be able to work."

"Damnit Venick," Talea fumed, "Work with me. I just replaced Sooj three days ago! Now I have to find a replacement for Frisko and possibly Bartusky. What do you want me to do next? Throw sticks and use harsh language to stop the IMC?"

"Like I said, find a Grunt and train them." He replied simply.

"That could take weeks. We could be dead by then! I need good Pilots not fodder."

"Discuss it at the briefing. We're going to be late."

"Nuh-uh. Listen old man," Talea said grabbing Venick by the shoulder as he turned away, "We're the losing side in this war. You want to rotate Pilots so they don't fatigue that's fine. But this is war! We don't always have the luxury of deciding when and where we get to fight our battles. This time we got to decide, so I want to decide too. I'm taking Vlocke. At least then I can break into fire teams."

"Oh, so you're a strategist now?" Venick said agrivated, "You don't know it but Vlocke's been on five back to back operations. Raid on the IMS _Salamis,_ the supply run last week, Operation Fracture, the Colony rescue, and now he's just back from Angel City in pulling out Barker. Which if you didn't hear over the Fleet wide PA, just told us we're all going to die horrible deaths! So no, your man Vlocke is not going out on another operation. He's practically suicidal as it is.

"In fact," Venick continued after a breath, "the only reason you're out of the brig is because we need every squad leader out there for this. If it was up to me, I'd of kept you there. Because, if you haven't quite figured it out yet, we need good Pilots to turn out new good Pilots. Not one's that're trying to throw their lives away."

"Noted." Talea brushed past Venick as she continued towards the briefing room.

Venick took his place near the front of the briefing room. Talea found a seat and waited. A pair of boots approached from behind and she had a pretty good guess of who it was.

"What'd'ya want Foyer?"

"How was the brig?" Foyer mocked her.

Talea didn't reply.

"Must've been a bad night, huh?"

She saw Venick cast a quick glance her way. Probably was keeping an eye on the two of them. She couldn't hit Foyer now but maybe later. He was an ass and probably deserved it for something.

"Commander on deck!" Venick barked.

The whole room stood up as Sarah Briggs entered the room.

"At ease, Pilots." She replied. The room sat back down.

"I'm sure you've all heard the outburst from Barker. First and foremost, that man drinks like a fish." That got a couple chuckles. "But I've been assured by General MacAllan, that only he knows of assets that can help us make a major victory over the IMC."

She brought up a halo display of an orbital outpost. "This is the Artemis Shipyard, currently holding the mega-carrier _IMS Sentinel_ in dry dock. As you may be aware, it is protected by outposts holding AOD guns. Those guns could crack our ships in half with a single shot. But they're our best chance of destroying the _Sentinel_ and delay IMC movements in this system.

"Currently, our best strategy is to use an older Fleet ship to draw the fire from their guns. Then warp in a small strike force onto the outpost to fire the guns on the _Sentinel_. We will deploy multiple Pilot and Grunt teams onto these three outposts." The Halo-board shifted to display three different outposts labeled: 197, 207, 210.

"Expect heavy resistance from both mechanized and air forces on the ground. The intelligence that MacAllan has given us is unfortunately fifteen years old. However, Commander Bish has been able to low-level penetrate their OSET security and we think we have an good way to undermine their security."

Sarah changed the display to bring up an image of a Data-knife. "The Spectre units on the ground have small slots on the backs of their heads for reprograming. Bish has found their reset codes and all you'll need to do is stab them in the slots to make them fight for the good guys."

The holo-display changed once again to show the fleet and the shipyard at length. "Now for the bad news. Due to the range of the guns, the fleet cannot hope to engage in any meaningful way. That means no ship gun support or sorties. The amount of AOD guns means no ship will be able to survive in the AO for longer than twenty-seven seconds. This is also means no Titan support either."

There was an brief outcry from the assembled Pilots.

"That's fucking ridiculous!" Foyer shouted.

"Stow your goddamn mouth, soldier." Venick quickly hopped up onto his feet and pointed Foyer down. Foyer sat down and folded his arms.

Sarah scanned the room for a second before she continued. "In addition to the recent Fracture Operation and the air strike in Angel City, there is limited Hornet support available."

Another huge outcry from the Pilots.

 _No air or Titan support!?_

 _This is all MacAllan's fault!_

 _Where the fuck is this MacAllan guy anyways?_

 _Who put him in charge?_

This was bad. Talea could see Venick's face turn bright red trying to restore order. Morale was bad, now she understood what Venick was trying to do but he couldn't do it alone. She had to do something to anything to try and bring this under control.

"Don't you assholes know anything?" She yelled. "This has been the best chance we've had in a while to actually do anything against the IMC and you want to waste it by arguing?" Talea's voice wasn't helping, in fact it was only adding to the cacophony.

Then faintly the sound of clapping could be heard coming from the back of the room. Slow at first but then it picked up speed accompanied by raucous laughter. The room quieted and each Militia Pilot turned towards the sound. There in the hallway was an IMC assault Pilot laughing and clapping his hands. Foyer in particular grounded his teeth.

The man wiped a tear from his eye and tried to calm down. "Oh don't let me stop you. I was enjoying you children bicker back and forth."

Sarah moved from the podium, trying to calm the room. "Don't shoot. He's on our side."

"Then explain to me why he's in silver's and not green!" Foyer demanded.

"Because I allowed him to." Another man entered the room. "Apologies ma'am." the man made a small bow. "This Pilots, is Iker Ramirez from the IMC and he probably knows more about the inner workings of this outpost then you do about your own cocks. So how about you all shut up and let Commander Briggs finish. Thank you." The man certainly knew how to put on airs. Talea noticed as he brought the IMC Pilot up to the front of the room. As Iker passed Foyer he just grinned.

"Right." Sarah continued, "The outposts are mostly unmanned and so actual IMC personal will be light but the amount of Spectre troops will be increased for more security. Pilots we can use this to our advantage and 'icepick' their own spectres and make them ours, increasing our forces. To recap, our objective is to quickly overrun the outpost, shoot the _Sentinel_ out of the sky, and get out. Questions?"

A Pilot raised his hand, "Ma'am, can we really be expected to defend ourselves in IMC controlled space with just Spectres alone? Unless there's a different _Sentinel_ we've all been talking about, this is about the same as suicide."

"Raiding the shipyard has never been done before, neither has a super-carrier been taken down. If we do both, it'll show the IMC that we can strike where we want. When we want." Sarah answered.

"I understand Ma'am, but this isn't possible."

Suddenly, Ramirez stood up from his seat. "Back on the Colony where you found MacAllan my squad was held back while Spetres did the job for us. After that, when we assaulted the _Odyssey,_ Graves elected to hold back and bomb the wreck from a distance and then send in troops. The IMC in all its unlimited resources, manpower, and time was for the first time: afraid. That fear allowed an uprising in Angel City. That fear allowed me to defect. MacAllan makes them afraid. I suggest you use it. As its the only advantage you have." Iker eyed the room for a second before he sat down.

That was a lot to process. If this Pilot was there during the Colony op, he might've been the one that shot Bartusky. Talea had to admit however, he did have a point. If they were successful now in attacking an assumed impossible target, the blow to the IMC would be huge. If the Militia could hit there, maybe they could hit anywhere? It was an enticing thought. Who was this MacAllan guy and why was he so feared among the IMC top brass?

"Alright, Pilots. The 'icepick' program and the briefing are being uploaded to your wristcoms. Distribute them to your squads." Sarah brought up the main outpost again on the holo-display. "We'll break up into three sections. Section Rhino will assault Outpost 197 and clear it for the tech teams. Captain Bolton will lead." A series of small blue dots populated the holographic outpost. "Section Scorpion, led by Lieutenant Riggins, will focus on Outpost 207 on the eastern flank of Rhino." Green dots populated those areas. "Lastly, Section Lark will target Outpost 210. That'll be headed up by Sergeant Burns." Red dots appeared on that outpost on the shipyard map.

Sergeant Burns promptly raised his hand.

"Yes, Sergeant Burns?" Sarah said.

"Ma'am, what's a lark?"

* * *

Captain Sho'ko and her XO Igor saluted as General MacAllan and Commander Bish Lorck came on screen in the captain's quarters. As soon as they were pinged from the _Annapolis_ Aubrey had gotten a sinking feeling in her stomach. Lansford was right, her ship had been chosen.

"Captain, as I'm sure Fleet gossip may or may not have already reached you, I will cut straight to the chase." MacAllan said, "We have a plan in place to assault the _IMS Sentinel_. In order for the shipyard's main guns to consider the threat genuine we need to use a ship of considerable size but also one that is not essential to the Fleet. Therefore, your ship has been chosen to act as a decoy.

"Bish has assured me that he can sufficiently rig your ship to be auto-piloted to the IMC shipyard. Therefore, you and your crew will be reassigned to other ships until another vessel can be found for you. Once we finish here, you will need to act quickly as the window of opportunity is closing."

The knot seemed to pull tighter in her stomach, "Yes sir, I understand. I will begin the process of evacuating the ship. How – how much time do we have?"

"Limited at best." MacAllan replied. "That's if our hornets were able to penetrate its armor."

"Aye, sir." Aubrey hesitated then added awkwardly added, "For the Frontier."

"Of Course, Captain. MacAllan out." MacAllan nodded slightly and ended the transmission. Aubrey's face was mildly burning. She wasn't sure why she added that last part at all.

"Captain, we must tell the crew now."

"Yes." She said. "Igor you're the soldier, was that what you're supposed to say in times like this?"

"Sailor, Ma'am. And aye, good a time as any."

"Good. I'll address the crew, I'll trust you to carry out the rest."

"Understood Ma'am." Aubrey noticed him actually make a smile. She could be wrong but she thought he was actually enjoying himself.

"Igor."

"Ma'am?"

"Thank you." He chuckled, saluted, and left the room before her. Aubrey brushed down her shirt, straightened the collar and followed Igor out onto the bridge.

She had explained the situation to them as best as she could. After she finished, Igor began giving orders. The drop bays were filled with as many Crows as they had aboard and others were requisitioned from nearby ships helped facilitate the evacuation.

Nearly an hour had gone by and Captain Sho'ko sipped from a fresh cup of coffee in her chair observing the process. Another line was opened with direct feed to Commander Lorck as he worked with their technical officer on getting the engines and warp drive to work remotely.

"How soon will Commander Lorck be able to control this vessel?" She asked.

"Depending on how soon we can set all functions to be automated from the bridge. Then give him access to the bridge via an electronic 'data-knife'. The systems are old so if it works it'll work if not, we may have to do it manually." The techie answered.

"I see. LC?"

"Civilian evacuations are nearing completion. Teams are sweeping the decks and our crews are clearing our their stations of any necessary materials."

"Understood. Keep me apprised."

* * *

Talea entered the squad's ready room. It was mostly empty devoid of the usual amount of people that would be checking gear and loading weapons. Grissom looked up first, followed in suite by Chung and Vlocke.

"Hey top. So what's the target?" Chung asked, hoisting his DMR up onto his thigh.

"We're hitting an IMC shipyard."

"So we're really doing it? We're taking out the _Sentinel_?"

"That's the idea."

"Alright!" Chung excitedly fist pumped the air with his free hand. "Now this'll be somethin'. Pay back those bastards!"

"Good. Whole place of IMC means I can actually fire a shot this time." Vlocke grinned.

"Wait," Chung paused. "That whole time next to MacAllan and you didn't get to shoot once?"

"Yeah mate. Spent the whole time in the sewers too."

"Right after your hero's shower too no less." Chung chuckled.

"I thought you smelled more like shit than usual." Grissom jokingly pinched his nose.

"Fuck off." Vlocke said.

Talea snapped her fingers loudly, "It don't matter how he smells, Vlocke's not coming."

"Hey what?" Vlocke looked confused, almost hurt.

"You're not coming." She said to him directly, "Captain Venick's orders. Compulsory grief leave. "

"What? Come on! That's bullshit!" Vlocke spat, "Fuck him."

"Ma'am," Grissom address her, "Does the Captain know that'll put us low?"

"We're folding in with Foyer's squad."

"Oh yeah, cause that makes sense." Chung said sarcastically. "Guy's a tool."

"Shut up, all of you." Talea snapped. "We're Pilots! Not Grunts on a picnic. Vlocke's not going and that's that. And if you don't like it, you spend your time cleaning your Titan."

Vlocke didn't like that at all, Talea could see it on his face. she had been right about him trying to push past it. He had keep running away from the guilt eating him inside. Truth was though, he'd been given something good. It was up to him to make something good of it. Somehow, Talea doubted that he'd know what to do.

Vlocke looked like he was about to argue and then chuckled, "Right. I get it. Kill a bunch for me, aye?"

"You bet man." Chung gave him a thumbs up.

Vlocke spun on his heels without ceremony and walked out.

"As for the rest of us," Talea addressed both Chung and Grissom, "we would've stayed on rest too if it hadn't been for this op. So keep it tight. We're headed towards the aft cargo bay to stay on stand by until the _Montana_ clears it's people out and then we get to raid. So standby to standby."

"Understood, Ma'am." Grissom acknowledged.

"Chung, you have my permission to ignore Foyer and do what you deem necessary. We're folding in but technically you're still under my command. Hell if that'll stop him from trying to order you around."

Chung laughed, "Yeah, right."

"Okay, let me define the idea here." She walked over to the main console and punched up the holographic of the outpost.

* * *

Captain Sho'ko glanced at the darkened cargo bay one last time. As captain, she was bound by tradition to be the last one off the _Montana._ It was eerie, how quiet the ship could actually be without all the lights, computer, and engines constantly humming. She got a chill just thinking about it.

 _Maybe that's why they're called ghost ships?_ The thought crossed her mind.

"Ma'am." Igor rested a hand on her shoulder. "It's time."

"Right. Commander Lorck, this is Captain Sho'ko, we're dusting off and the _Montana_ is all yours. May she find better seas."

"Copy that, Captain Sho'ko." Bish replied, "Once you're clear, I'll warp the _Montana_ into the Artemis Shipyard."

"Aye aye." She replied and stepped aboard the awaiting Crow to lift off. The Crow's side door shut and as they pulled away from the derelict _Montana_ as it began to envelope into white light...

* * *

"Decoy warping in 3... 2... 1... mark." Bish stated.

"Pilot dropships, that's our cue," Lieutenant Riggins announced, pounding his hand on the hull of the dropshp. "Hit it!"

Talea's eyes adjusted as they came out of warp just inside the IMC outpost. It was a sight to behold. Off in the far distance was the huge satellite facility surrounded for miles on the nearby moon by several near identical outposts to the one they were just about to attack. It wouldn't surprise her, if they had made these outposts on an assembly line.

Talea bent over to get a better look out the starboard side window. She couldn't see all of _Montana_ from her side. Riggins walked past her to the door bay handle and pulled on it. The door tilted forward revealing the _Montana_ as she careened forward towards their target the _IMS Sentinel_.

Riggins held the side of his helmet as he spoke, "We can see the decoy- it's working! The cannon's powering up."

"Dropships," MacAllan's voice came into her headset, "stay clear of the blast zone."

Talea looked over at Foyer across from her, "Ladies first."

"Funny." He said taking off from the hatch. She followed after him. Riggins would wait for everyone else to leave before he would give the dropship pilot the all clear. Talea landed on the deck and rolled, coming up next to squad of Grunts. Their eyes were glued to the _Montana_.

 _We're finally taking down an IMC Carrier! I got to say I'm a little excited._

 _You should be! No more running for us._

She looked up herself just in time to see the _Montana_ intact before a second later the AOD guns grumbled to life and speared a bright red beam straight into the broadside of the derelict ship. A second later, another beam also stabbed the _Montana_ just below the port thruster sending the back half of the vessel upward. The blast cracked the ship in two, sending the two halves into separate directions. A third beam fired striking the decoy just under the bow. Debris streamed out in large fireballs as the engines buckled and melted before finally rupturing. The sound of the explosion momentarily dulled Talea's ears joined a moment later by a quick blast of hot air.

 _Man, am I glad they took bait._

 _At least the Montana died well, she was a good ship._

Talea glanced back at her squad. Chung nudged Grissom in the shoulder and pointed with his rifle. Grissom lifted the top of visor on his helmet and whistled.

"Frisko would've loved to have seen that!" Chung grinned.

"He probably saw that from wherever he is." Grissom laughed.

"They took the bait. We're in." Riggins relayed to MacAllan and Bish. "Alright! We all know the mission! We're taking out that ship, so we need this outpost secured! Now move out!"

"You heard him team, kill every IMC soldier you can find, so the tech teams can get Bish a clear signal." MacAllan emphasized.

"Section Scorpion, breakout and take positions!" Riggins ordered.

"7th Annapolis on me." Talea called out. Chung and Grissom hustled up to her.

"I want your sniper on top of that observatory." Foyer ordered Talea.

"We work as fire teams. My squad takes my orders. Remember that next time your squad sleeps on my ship."

"Venick put your squad attached to mine. You take my orders Talea." Foyer shouted from inside his helmet.

"Chung," She tilted her head towards her sniper. "Do what you feel necessary."

"Aye." He replied.

"You're making a mistake Talea!" Foyer yelled at her.

"We're pirates." She said back to him with a shrug, "And right now, all we have to do is kill a lot of IMC." And with that she took off towards the armory with her squad right behind her.

* * *

Vlocke whistled as he took a rag to Zeke's exterior. Well, the newest iteration of Zeke anyways. It was a beat up older Atlas Titan he had pulled from the Titan Bay. With the large scale raid happening, the bay was quiet. Too quiet in fact, that Vlocke had taken to talking to himself just to add some more volume to his surroundings.

"There, huh? How's that Zeke?"

He wiped away from some oil stains from outside the cockpit. The green paint began to look a little more new, though that wouldn't fool anyone. All their Titans were at this point refurbished. The only difference now was that Kodai had been able to supply them with some new Titans during the Angel City Uprising.

He put down the rag and took a drink of some ale. It was shitty ale but it sorta gave him a buzz. The ale keeping him warm inside the cold Titan Bay. He'd of preferred being out there doing something but this wasn't all bad.

"See buddy, much better now huh? You know what Zeke?" Vlocke plunked himself down in the cockpit seat and stretched, taking a cat nap. "I like that you've never left. I know you're all wires and gizmos and shit. But you've been more of a mate to me than anyone else I've known."

Vlocke adjusted his legs so they rested on the front lip of the cockpit. "No hard feeling about all those times I've left you behind, yeah? Nothin' personal."

He gave the Titan a gentle pat on the joysticks. "But you're safe up here anyhow. Aren't you glad I pulled your core off the _Redeye_ when I did. Home for us went down in a lot a smoke."

Throughout the whole conversation Zeke remained silent. Vlocke looked about the compartment admiring the monitors and dials of his close friend. He bounced up and down on the seat testing the comfort level. It was very squeaky and loud. Vlocke rubbed his red strip of hair and groaned.

"They couldn't of found a better seat than this, huh? Don't worry buddy, I'll get you a new one. Actually maybe I'll keep it, eh? Remind me of all those good times I had in here. Well you. Don't make it weird!" Vlocke reached out for his ale and took a drink. He leaned back and looked at the bar assists on each side of the cockpit. They were supposed to be for when you had to pull yourself out of a Titan to eject when the Titan went critical but he remembered Tyrena and him using them differently. Or correctly, he chuckled to himself.

The same wave of weird feelings he'd gotten at the cantina threatened to resurface again. Vlocke started getting anxious. At the cantina, he had someone to punch, get the adrenaline going, distract himself. Here what was he going to do? The thought crossed his mind to fire off the chaingun into the side of the hull and blow the whole thing out.

Didn't all that shit he did when he got on board get it out of his system? What was the point then of all the fights, drugs, races and gambling if he was still going to choke up anyways? His breath became rapid, his chest tighter. The strange feeling rose inside him, swelling out of control as his control slipped. He felt multiple feelings at once: fear, joy, sorrow, anger. _Is this a heart attack? Is this what death feels like?_

"It's fucking shit if it is." Vlocke said to himself weakly, feeling faint. His own joke gave him a short nervous chuckle. Sweat was beading on his forehead. _What the fuck is this, huh?_ His mind flashed with the image of one of Tyrena's rebellious bangs hanging over her eye. Vlocke tried to breathe, to control his breath. Another flash, Briggs twirling the wingman around his hand before offering it to him: _"For you buddy._ " He couldn't breath, his chest was too tight. Flash, this time it was the shitty fake sunset he had back in his room in front of the Hammond training sim.

It was too close in here.

Why couldn't he breath?

His throat was too tight.

Tears were bursting in his eyes.

 _I'm dying._

"Oh fuck." He croaked in anticipation. His voice so hoarse and weak it was barely recognizable. His lips were trembling. A fat salty tear ran into his mouth. He remembered Briggs as his legs were shot off. Tyrena on the bloodpan of the Dropship, her head twisted...

The monitors on both sides flickered. Sputtering blue light around him rhythmically. Suddenly, the bottom portion of the cockpit view screen dropped open and the Titan tilted forward. Vlocke gasped as he slid out of his Titan and hit the deck of the Titan Bay. The ale splashing him on the way down.

His face hit the deck and he felt his nose crack, his teeth clenching biting part of his tongue. The pain numbed him and woke him up. He felt more like himself again. He groggily leaned on his elbow and wiped his nose. Blood was dripping profusely and it stung when he tried to breath through it.

"Fughhh! Nof the face!" He winced wiped more blood on his arm, and spat the viscous from his mouth. Vlocke pulled off his tank top and wadded it up and shoved it under his nose. His body hurt all over, dull pain from the fall but he was mostly intact. He looked back up at the empty cockpit, his Titan on it's knees, hands braced on the deck. The cockpit was dark, no lights or switches on. He saw the Atlas' globular camera aimed at him. Vlocke couldn't remember hitting a switch or accidentally hitting the wrong button but it had happened. How did it happen?

"You okay Pilot?" A crewman asked.

"Uh, yeah I-" Vlocke examined the tank top and the huge stain of dull red on the deep green. It was so much, it made him a little woozy to look at it. He sat up and spat out more blood from his mouth. Vlocke tried to remember again what he was doing that might have caused the Titan to do that but there was nothing. He didn't throttle a lever or push a pedal. Just... whatever had come over him. Zeke hadn't leaned forward on his own had he?

"We should get you looked at." The crewman grabbed Vlocke by his free arm and hoisted him up.

"Yeah, sure..." Vlocke let the tank top sway to and fro from his nose.

* * *

"Sergeant Burns, respond!" Sarah requested. "Sergeant Burns? Damnit. Does anyone from Section Lark hear me?"

"This is Private Foster..." A weak voice answered, "The IMC have overrun the outpost... they're all dead. My whole squad is dead..."

The line cut. "Teams, The IMC have taken control of Outpost 197. We've lost Section Lark."

"Command, this is Section Scorpion. The IMC have overrun part of our sector and are assaulting the fire control building. We need Pilot support!"

"Copy Scorpion." Sarah slid the holo-board to show the current situation on the ground on Outpost 207. The IMC had overrun the AA turret just outside the fire control building. "We need that turret online or else we can't risk our Hornets. Pilots, keep the IMC off the tech crews."

"This is the Seventh. Moving to assist."

* * *

Talea slid across the floor and shoved an IMC Grunt over a railing. Grissom behind her, fired his Hemlock into an enemy Spectre. She slipped her carbine over her shoulder and brought out her mag launcher and fired the magnetic grenades into another group of enemy robots.

"This base is crawling with IMC now." Grissom called out.

"Even the roof is getting to hot to hang out on. They have Phantoms running close air support." Chung added as he dropped in from a skylight.

"Hold on, I think I have an idea." She brought up the map on her wrist com. Most of the fighting was around Riggin's position. "Okay look here team. We'll cut through the armory here, use the bridge, and come in from the back of the Factory and use it to the roof and surprise those Titans."

"Wait, how do you intend to do that?" Grissom asked.

"Just stay close." Talea ran and boosted off the wall.

"Aw hell." Grissom whined.

"Now this what I'm talking about!" Chung leapt after her.

Talea used her speed to slide on the floor, then boosted against a series of crates creating more speed. She leapt off and slid through an open one right past two IMC Grunts tangling with an turned Spectre. Talea pumped her legs running as hard as she could towards a cracked window and used her boosters to flip through it.

Outside, she rolled and recovered boosting again against the Armory walls as it curved back towards the east and then leapt off again towards the bridge heading towards the Factory. She hit the side of the bridge, careful not to look down at the black abyss, still pumping her legs powering herself forward as quick as she could. Just when she was losing her momentum again she double jumped onto the factory wall and followed it to an open set of stairs. She grabbed the railing and quickly hoisted over and charged up the stairs. Talea broke into the factory, gun at the ready. About a moment later, Chung came on her right side with his Hammond pistol. Another moment later, Grissom followed suit pulling in on her left.

"Clear?" She asked.

"Clear." Chung answered, "You're one hell of a show off, Top."

"We're the Seventh for a reason. Okay, Grissom and I will hit shields, Chung you knock 'em over with your Archer."

"Oh yeah!" Chung nodded his approval.

Talea quietly lead the way to the roof. They could hear commotion from beyond the doorway. Talea lowered her self to a crouch and just so slightly peeked her head around the threshold. There were two Grunts, one with a Longbow sniper and his spotter accompanied by a squad of Sepctres. Talea turned back to her squad.

"Chung, cloak and hack the spectres. Grissom, you and I will take out the Grunts near the ledge."

"Copy." Chung pulled out his data-knife and popped the interface portion out with a click. His suit turned translucent as he left through the doorway.

"Right behind you." Grissom said.

She watched Chung stab the nearest Spectre in the rear of its head where the interface slot was located. "Okay... now." Talea and Grissom jumped up and ran for the Grunts. The spotter turned and Talea fired a burst with her rifle. The sniper turned and swung to shoot his rifle at Grissom. He grabbed the grip and held it away as he one handed fired his submachine gun into the IMC trooper.

With the roof under their control, Talea and Grissom pulled out their Mag Launchers. Talea eyed the battle below. IMC troops were pulling up from a landing pad in the distance by the Turret. In the gorge below them, the enemy was driving a wedge between their positions driving the Militia sections apart. Talea took the scene in and decided on a Titan trying to bombard the Gun Control Room would be a good start.

"Team, Atlas Titan 11 O'clock down with the Trip." She highlighted it on their HUD.

"Roger." Grissom said and hoisted the Mag Launcher up to his shoulder.

The two of them began firing their grenades at the Titan blowing through it's body shield in a matter of seconds. The Titan turned and boosted away defensively. The globe atop it's chassis searching for the source of the attack. Talea and Grissom popped back behind the protective low wall of the factory roof.

"Hold. Wait for him to move on." Talea held out her open palm. She slowly peeked back over to check on the Atlas. She didn't see any sign of them, which hopefully was a good sign. "Okay. Not much cover between us and the gun. Grissom, you and I will stim and vault over using the glass windows there." She pointed over to the round windows that hung over the Factory. "Chung, think you can double jump to the side there?" She nodded towards the tower of the Outpost.

"I've got a better idea, Ma'am." Chung pointed to a cable running from a corner.

Talea smiled, "Perfect. We'll zip line across, boost off the wall and land around the Turret."

"Today just gets better and better." Chung cracked his neck and flexed his fingers. The squad sniper ran towards the wire. Just as he jumped for it, he cloaked making his traversal undetectable.

"Man, I wish I could do that." Grissom said.

"Yeah but you hate scalpels." Talea elbowed him before she ran to boost herself across the wire too.

"They put the conduit under your skin, it's weird!" Grissom cried.

"Think of yourself as a thermal battery!" Chung teased him.

"Oh, like that makes it any better asshole."

"Cut the chatter. We still got a job to do." Talea commanded.

Talea reached the end of the wire snapping off into a wall run against the tower. She quickly glanced to her left towards the landing pad, just in time to see several drop pods stab into the cement. Chung bounced off the wall and she followed suit as his suit decloaked. She watched as he landed atop a Grunt and fired his rifle into another trooper. Talea landed behind him and spun to cover his back. A squad of Grunts rushed to take cover from the three pilots, obviously surprised by the new arrival of enemy Pilots.

"Grissom, get on it!" Talea ordered.

Grissom pulled out his data-knife and stabbed the terminal. Talea eyed the three concentric rings turn blue and collapse into each other. Chung was letting loose with his Longbow taking out targets down range. She hated waiting for the data-knife cycle to finish. It always felt like a life time. Eight seconds in which anything bad could happen.

"I got it!" Grissom announced and yanked the data-knife back out of the slot.

The Turret reset and then readjusted itself. A pair of IMC Phantoms flew overhead and the Turret pounded shells into their underbellies. The two fighters burst into orange balls of flame and smashed into the Factory.

"This is the 7th Annapolis, the Turret is ours. You okay in there?"

"Show offs. Another wave of IMC is inbound! Keep them off us for another minute, we've got the gun to fire!" Riggins ordered.

* * *

An enemy Pilot swung in through the skylight. Ex-friendly anyways, Ramirez clarified to himself. The Pilot was wielding a new CAR smg and ripped several rounds into the grunts next to Ramirez. He dodged the incoming fire and stabbed the Pilot under his armpit where the armor was weak, wrenching the smg from the ex-friendly's hands. Getting the weapon under control Ramirez sent a burst into the Pilot's chest.

He was fighting with one hand tied behind his back and winning. No jumpkit, no Titan, no primary weapon. Grendel and Winters always talked up big shit about Whitehead but for a Metacomet trainee he was doing better than the two Pilots he'd gone up against so far. _Retract knife, check chamber, return fire._ Ramirez mentally told himself. He kept himself focused. _Sight target, engage, annihilate_.

A Spectre appeared on the stairs leading to the command room. Ramirez let the first one he saw take the rest of the magazine which wasn't much. The damaged robot wobbled from the impacts and Ramirez finished it was a kick. The second unit raised it's weapon to fire but Ramirez had already pounced on it with his knife and stuck it in the back. The rest of the units folded over as the hacking unit bypassed their security and rewrote their protocols.

The units lurched again but this time as his followers. Ramirez yanked the knife back out of the Spectre he hacked. He picked up the fallen Spectre's R-97 and checked the receiver for a round, then pulled out the mag to check the weight. Checking the Spectre's vest for spare magazines, he recovered three and stuck them in the pouches of his kit.

The SRS Captain, Bolton, didn't trust him enough to give him a full load out. Ramirez didn't worry he'd taken care of distrusting Pilots before. He thought of "Cleaver One" as he put two rounds into his face. In the end, the line he crossed by betraying the IMC ensured that anyone trying to kill him was IMC. The rest was like drill. Sight target, engage, annihilate.

A new wave of enemies breached the Command Control Room. Mostly Grunts accompanied by a Pilot trying to steal a quick victory. Ramirez sighted the Pilot, squeezed the trigger, and took down the Pilot first. Bolton had the same idea his R-101C added to the quick succession of bullets. Then the SRS Captain snapped his rifle at Ramirez. Ramirez chuckled and popped out the magazine and pulled back on the charging handle to eject the chambered bullet. He let the R-97 drop to the deck and shrugged.

"What can I say? Old habits."

Bolton grunted, "I should kill you for disobeying a direct order."

"You could try."

Bolton fired a round that whirled by Ramirez's head. He flinched and tried stupidly to dodge the bullet no where near his head.

"Next time," Bolton warned him, "I won't miss. Yarmeda? Where are we on that cannon?"

"Firing now! Standby!" The tech crew chief relayed.

The room rumbled and shook as the large Anti-Orbit defense gun fired off its main payload. On the readout screen, the red beam struck the _IMS Sentinel_ on it's port side. The ship's orbit wobbled and began to drop as it fought gravity to stay in the air.

"Direct hit!" Yarmeda exclaimed.

"All Milita Forces, we're outta time! Rendezvous at the evac point and wait for pick up!" MacAllan ordered.

"Alright, fold up! Let's get out of here!" Bolton told his Section.

* * *

"But the _Sentinel's_ still in the air!" Sarah stated as she saw the huge IMC mega-carrier hang in the air desperately trying to maintain altitude.

"Not for long. They're down for the count." Bish grinned.

MacAllan rested an hand on Sarah's shoulder, "We've lost enough lives today already."

"Roger." Sarah agreed. "Pilots, get to the evac point!"

"Bish, you got Barker on the line?" MacAllan asked.

"He's standing by, Mac."

The line opened to Barker just off the _Annapolis'_ forward view deck. From the view of the screen a bottle of moonshine was parallel to the table it rested on. Barker's face obscured the rest making the view too blurry to focus.

"Nice fireball, Mac. Seem's to be your specialty."

MacAllan scoffed, "You didn't think we could do it."

"Nahh, I just didn't care."

"Well time to care, Barker. Time to do your part. Show Bish how to plot a course to the 'Boneyard'."

Barker turned his face from the camera, "You've gotta be kidding me. I said I'd never go back there."

"I know the feeling, man. This world makes liars of us all."

* * *

Ramirez was forced into a cell on the ship's brig. Bolton was escorted by two guards, one of which trained his rifle on him as he slowly backed up into the cell. He didn't resist. Trust took time he figured, even longer for traitors.

"So." Ramirez said.

"So." Bolton replied back with a lazy tone.

One of the escorts entered in the lock combo on the cell's keypad, saluted and left. The second guard lifted his gun up to his shoulder and stepped back. Bolton stroked his chin, studying Ramirez thoughtfully. They stood there for a long minute.

"So," Ramirez broke the silence, "What's it gonna be?"

"You provided good actionable intelligence. You followed orders. But you saw the briefing room. There's no way any of them are gonna trust you yet."

"Those farmers playing at war?" Ramirez chuckled. "I don't care about their opinions. We had a deal."

"And when it's feasible to do so, we'll make you a Pilot again." Bolton lazily assured him.

Ramirez angrily reached out to grab Bolton's shirt but the SRS Pilot yanked him against the bars and leveraged his arm against them.

"I could snap it right here, you know? But you know what's stopping me? The fact that I know someone like _you_ will listen to what I say because someone like _you_ has no other choice. A lot of pissed off _farmers_ out there that would love to have a go at you. The only thing between them and you – is me. So you'll do as I say, when I say it. Right?" Ramirez glared at him but gave a slight nod. Bolton let him go.

"Good. Now," He continued, "you'll stay here until we can find _appropriate_ accommodations."

* * *

Talea slipped the headset around her neck and breathed a sigh of relief. They had been smashed on the other outposts barely able to get a shot off to hit their target. But they had done it. The Militia had pulled off the biggest and most daring raid in their short history. She was happy, almost too much so. As soon as they had hit the drive and pulled out of atmo, she had a huge grin plastered on her face.

"What a time to be alive!" She laughed. She let the 101-C dangle and bounce as she walked away from the dropship before she did a spin.

Chung lifted off the huge goggle face plate and swung his arms around Talea's neck in a great big hug. "Holy shit!" He laughed almost hysterically, bringing tears to his eyes.

Grissom pulled up to them as Chung peeled himself off of Talea and embraced Grissom next. Grissom laughed and gave Chung several big pats on the back. "Did we just make history pardner!? I think we did!"

"I'm shaking man, I'm literally shaking!" Chung smiled.

"That's just the stims wearing off." Talea teased him and gave him a playful slap on the face. Then she smiled and put Chung in a head lock and kissed the top of his head. "I love you stupid sweaty bastards! Let's hit the bar!" She pointed in a direction away from the hanger bay.

"Fuck yes!" Girssom agreed.

The cantina was pack and noisy in jubilant celebration. Grunts, crew members, and Pilots all packed together in the large space to commend each other on doing the impossible. The Grunts had taken the hardest hit and word was that Section Lark was wiped out completely. You could see on their faces as Talea looked about the room. The bitter sweet look in most of them as they stared into their drinks or swirled their glasses. The impossible wasn't without it's sacrifices.

Overall, however, Talea saw something she hadn't seen in a real long time: Solidarity. She saw that around the room that everyone seemed to click together now. Homesteaders with criminals, Pilots with Grunts and it was all thanks to MacAllan. Was that his plan? Is this what Venick saw in MacAllan? The Militia in all it's diversity finally pulling together in a single purpose. And look where that had taken them. They had broken the impossible defenses of the Artemis Shipyard and struck a huge blow to the IMC by destroying the _Sentinel._ It was a good time to be alive. Talea reflected to herself.

"Next round's on me!" She exclaimed with her fist full of red bills. Talea got up from the table and turned towards the counter to grab more drinks. In the back of her mind, she was slightly worried that they would actually drink all the alcohol on the ship. The bartenders at the counter had their hands full. One in particular with an auburn mustache was working on a tough drink. Talea watched as he shook and spun the metal container around in the air.

"Hey." A gruff voice spoke followed by a large man next to her.

Talea ignored him, half entranced on the bartender's drink the other half was because like her everyone else was waiting on drinks too. The big man next to her tapped her on the shoulder.

"Can I help you?" She asked only slightly tilting her head.

"Oh, yeah. M'name's charlie. I was on the colony that you helped defend from the IMC."

"Uh huh." The bartender tossed the whole mix into the air and caught it.

"I've been askin' around ya know. Lookin' in on Pilots and the like."

"Kay."

"Listen, er, would you... consider, um."

Talea caught one the bartender's eyes and put up her fingers for three. The man nodded and reached below the counter and pulled up three bottles. Talea left some of the red bills on the table and stuffed the rest back in her pocket. She picked up the bottles and turned back to the tables.

Talea plunked the bottles on the table and dropped into a seat. The squad snatched up the bottles immediately and tilted them upwards. The cool liquid was great and Talea felt the coolness all the way down to her stomach. She sighed as she put the bottle back down on the table.

"So would'ja?"

"Huh?" Talea turned and saw the big guy sitting down too.

"Hey Ma'am," Chung asked pointing at the new comer. "Who's this?"

"I dunno. Who're you?" She rested her drinking arm on the table.

The man looked flustered, "I'm Charlie. We were with MacAllan at the colony. I was just with your mate in Angel City?"

Then it clicked. _So this is the Charlie he was talking about._ "Well join us! A friend of Vlocke's must be someone worth drinking with!" Talea grabbed a glass and began filling it with the rest of her bottle.

"Um, thanks." He clutched the glass. "But I wasn't here to drink."

"What!?" Grissom shouted drunk and surprised.

"I want to be a Pilot!" Charlie told them.

"Really?" Talea said taken aback.

"Look at him! He's huge!" Chung leaned forward on the table getting a closer look at Charlie's arms, his eyelids drooping.

"Yeah. I thought you'd do me a favor since I helped your man an' all. Ya know? Favor for a favor."

"You're kidding." Talea ran a hand through her hair. "You're too old to be a Pilot."

"Says who?" Charlie raised his chin.

"Says anyone who's been a Pilot. It's hell on your knees. Massive cardio on top of that. Quick reflexes, weapon familiarity of all kinds. You throw in Titan training and advanced tactics into the mix and you have to be one specialized mutha fucka. And I heard, in the IMC, they have Pilots fight to the death to finish basic."

"Fine I'll do it."

"I don't think you're listening. You ain't qualified."

"I don't care! My son was left behind on that planet along with my best friend! And the people who did it are still out there! So I'll do whatever it takes to get even."

He had motivation but his age was a huge factor against him. Frisko was excitable and Vlocke reckless at times but they were solid Pilots in their own right. Maybe she could give this old man a try, hell it might actually be fun to watch.

"Alright then. Let's put you in a Hammond right now." She smirked.

"Right now?"

"Yeah. If you can complete it, we'll see about trying you out for real. No promises though."

"That's more than anyone else would give me." Charlie gave a sigh.

"Fuck it. It'll be fun." Talea practically jumped up and whisked the cup out of Charlie's hand. "You won't be needing this." And she gulped the whole dark brown colored drink down.

Chung elbowed Grissom, "Hundred Credits he doesn't finish."

"Two hundred, he does. Just to see the look on your face." Grissom chuckled.

"You're on!" They shook on it. "Another round! We need more booze for this!"

* * *

I'm sorry for the long wait on this chapter. I rewrote it completely a couple times and revised the final draft multiple times. In a lot of ways, this has been the most stressful chapter to write. It's also probably the longest chapter I've written so far, but between all the rewrites and revisions that might just be me! ^^'

Anyways! I hope you guys like it! Since we're half way through the story (9 out of 18) I really hope you guys have been enjoying it (for those that have made it this far!) and let me know what you think. Okay... I'm exhausted, time to crash.


	10. Chapter 5B: But Who Guards the Sentinel?

Classified System

IMC Black Site "Overlook"

2212, March 9th, 1020h

Grendel's body was a network of tubes and wire as he laid on the exam table. The room was cold and centrally lit, leaving the rest of the room wreathed in darkness. Dr. Yisv reappeared from the blackness followed by his scientific retinue, all dressed in surgical gowns, hands held upright with their freshly administered gloves. Grendel stared at them impassively awaiting for the doctor to speak.

The retinue approached the table and took their positions around him wordlessly. Dr. Yisv stayed at his feet studying the chart throughly. The doctor looked up at Grendel and smiled. A nurse appeared next to him and fitted a full face mask onto him. Dr. Yisv nodded to the nurse and they left to prep another surgeon.

Grendel was aware of needles and tubes being adjusted on his side and looked to see. There was no pain just a weird pinching feeling. Dr. Yisv nodded to another Nurse behind Grendel and a large plate was fitted over Grendel's head. The plate had several protrusions and from these sprang bright green light, scanning his face up and down. It was a smaller version of the training pods, Grendel had used for VR training.

"Pilot Marzenko please look at the red dots." The nurse instructed him.

Grendel looked at the top red dot first, then lowered his gaze to the second.

"Good." They said, "Start the sync."

The light under the plate grew brighter and brighter until they were blinding. Suddenly, he felt himself standing in infinite white room. Grendel slowly rotated to survey the entire infinite horizon before him. He had never seen anything like it before. Usually the training simulations were complete with hazards and terrain. This was some pre-constructed expanse.

"Sit, Pilot." Dr. Yisv's voice summoned him.

Grendel quickly turned and saw before him Dr. Yisv sitting behind an ancient wood desk and a large wing back chair before him. Grendel slowly stepped forward and sat down cautiously.

"Welcome – to my waiting room." Dr. Yisv gave him a smile, neither warm nor welcoming. The doctor put his finger tips together and breathed in deeply through his nostrils. "Your brain has been put into something of a 'deep sleep' while we preform the surgery. I assure you, you are in capable hands."

"I should be dead." Grendel pointed out.

"And yet you are not."

"No."

"Tell me – why did you become a second generation Pilot?"

"To be the best."

Dr. Yisv studied him a moment. "Yes, I suppose so. Is that why you chose the moniker "Grendel?"

"Yes."

"It suits you. You must prefer it over Walter."

"I don't know." Grendel observed.

Dr. Yisv's smile grew larger clearly pleased with the line of questioning. "Excellent. You're an ideal candidate."

"Ideal for what?" Grendel asked icily.

"The human body can only achieve so much. There are limits to reaction time, speed, muscle mass. Then age becomes a factor, the body deteriorates, eye sight declines and grows weak."

He stood up from his desk and created several screens from nothingness. On each screen were different designs of robotic arms built for specific purposes. Grendel looked at each one briefly studying their appearances.

"Hm. Cybernetic replacements."

"Precisely." Yisv waved his hand and the screens disappeared replaced by a single one of the surgery table. Grendel saw himself being prepped by the surgery team. He viewed the screen with a sense of detached curiosity.

"I'll do it." Grendel answered the unasked question he felt Yisv was going to make.

"While replacing one arm would be adequate, I would think it _better_ to replace both. Don't you agree?" Yisv scratched his chin.

 _Better._ The word had a new found ring to it in Grendel's ears. No longer would he have to do his best, now he could push himself past his body's limitations. He could become better than human. He could become better. _I must become better._ He flashed a wicked smile towards Dr. Yisv.

"Perfect." Grendel said approvingly.

"Good. I'll notify the surgeons immediately." Dr. Yisv typed a message on a wrist-com that appeared on his arm. "In the meantime, you shall remain here. I will upload a series of training programs to help you adjust to the new G3 chip as well as your new arms. Any requests?"

"Increase reaction time, sturdy, and better stability. I need to be accurate over large distances."

"Ah. I think that can be arranged. The reaction times will be in sync with the G3 chip." And with that, Dr. Yisv vanished from the world in a blue burst of light. Grendel looked down at his two arms as the construct slowly rebuilt them into his cybernetic replacements.

 _I will be better._

Freeport System

Enroute to Artemis Shipyard

2212, March 9th, 1105h

 _Accessing Log 03062212..._

 _Planet Victor_

 _Entry: Destruction of 52% of Militia Fleet during calculated raid_

 _Conclusion: Successful_

 _Accessing Log 03072212-A..._

 _Unknown Planet_

 _Entry: Primary field test of Spectre combat drones on civilian and Militia targets. 86% of all Spectres terminated in combat area. Militia Forces forced from ZO to nearby Odyssey. Discovery MacAllan._

 _Conclusion: Successful_

 _Accessing Log 03072212-B..._

 _Unknown Planet_

 _Entry: Artillery deployment of Odyssey expected to safeguard IMC troops from massive causalities. 2 of 3 Titans destroyed during bombardment. Assault carried out with 71% causalities of IMC Ground Troops. MacAllan not found. Blackbox missing from Odyssey. IMC Forces withdrawal._

 _Conclusion: Failure_

 _Accessing Log 03082212..._

 _Angel City_

 _Entry: Riot ensues after release of "Troy Massacre" to several illegal media groups. Local Garrisons suppress majority of the population center. IMS Sentinel provides assistance in quelling the uprising. Multiple Kodai Technologies buildings and Frontier Headquarters destroyed. Target Barker remains unfound. Several SRS operatives eliminated during operation. IMS Sentinel damaged by Militia fighter craft._

 _Conclusion: Partial Success_

Spyglass withdrew from the terminal. It sensed a pattern but it had to review more data. Error could not be a factor in its conclusion.

"Spyglass, damage report." Graves issued his command from the bridge.

It processed the millions of data points near-instantaneously before replying. "Damage assessment complete. Flagship _IMS Sentinel_ damage report. During the battle of Angel City, the Sentinel took critical damage Militia fighter craft. The aft stabilizer was rendered inoperative. Vice-admiral I recommend three days in repair."

"There was a purpose to their sacrifice." Graves realized.

"What? To show how desperate they are?" Blisk laughed.

"They were," Graves acknowledged, "A few weeks ago I would've accepted that. But with MacAllan calling the shots, I think he wants to move the _Sentinel_ out of his way. You got to see the whole board Blisk." The vice-admiral punched up the halo-board to capture the entire Frontier.

"The nearest drydock that can support the _Sentinel_ is on Outpost 207." Spyglass informed him.

Graves traced the path with his finger to the drydock. Blisk shook his head and drew out his knife, spinning it in his hand. Spyglass studied Graves' face intently trying to discover the mental decision he would come to.

"Spyglass," Graves retracted his finger to his chin, "Divert the destroyer _Colossus_ to cover the _Sentinel's_ patrol route until the repairs are complete. Activate all orbital cannons on the deck and deploy all pilots to the outposts just in case."

"Yes, Vice-admiral."

Winters dissembled her trophy Hemlock on her bunk arranging the pieces in exact spacings. Her room was dark save for the one lamp lit in the room, just so she could see what she was doing. The thermostat was set to 7 celsius, the cold air keeping her focused. Her hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail, so she could concentrate without strands blocking her eyes.

Once she had finished breaking it down, she took to cleaning each piece throughly before putting the whole rifle back together. Winters had studied each piece looking for insights into Militia armament development. It fired in three round bursts, which told her the rifle focused on accuracy. She also suspected the other reason for the design was to conserve ammunition. They had covered guerrilla warfare history at Whitehead and the principle seemed the same as the M-16 rifle after the American-Vietnam conflict on Earth.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on her door. She paused and looked towards the sound and snapped the next piece of her rifle loudly. Loud enough to be heard from outside the door she thought.

"I'm not Militia." Barrett's deep voice came in response.

"Come in, Barrett." She said perturbed by the interruption.

The door opened and Barrett raised an eyebrow as Winters sighted the rifle around the room before she hoisted the gun onto her shoulder. He folded his arms and leaned against the doorway. She ignored him and collected the magazine from the bed. Winters inspected it making sure it was dust free before she slapped it in.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this serious. Sorry, furious." he broached the silence.

Winters cast him a quick angry glance before she returned her attention to the rifle. She quickly ejected the magazine into her hand and placed it back on the bed. Then, in several movements broke the Hemlock rifle down again into several parts.

"Look, there wasn't much time to catch me up before we got back into the shit, but before we go back out there again..."

She drew her P201l and pulled back on the slide testing the movement for snags. Winters popped out that magazine and began dissembling that weapon too. Barrett sighed.

"Listen, about Ramirez. What happened to him..." Barrett trailed off

Winters stopped and glared at him.

"Fine then. Cold as hell in here anyhow."

Mayumi took a seat in Dr. Ornov's office. He was _Sentinel's_ on ship psychiatrist. Known unofficially as "inquisitors" by those familiar with the IMC's definition of traitorism and corporate policy. To approach them voluntarily was to look guilty, to be approached by them was to be guilty.

Ornov's appearance was unsettling. While his mannerism were composed and alert, his eyes were bright red with dark swelling under them as if he hadn't slept in days. His clothes were disheveled and his tie stained with coffee. Yet he looked relaxed and untroubled. It was obvious to Mayumi then, that Ornov was stimming himself.

"Pilot Sato, a pleasure." Ornov greeted her with his clinical tone.

She folded her hands in her lap.

"Please, don't be afraid. I assure you there is full confidentiality in this office." he adjusted the buttons on his silver and white suit jacket, revealing the wrinkled and unwashed shirt beneath. How someone like him could consider himself professional, Mayumi wasn't sure.

"I understand." She replied. Her eyes darted about the room looking for the hidden recording equipment he must have.

"Yes, I suppose I could tidy up the place a bit. It is something of a mess." Dr. Ornov interpreted her staring and tried to make light of the subject.

Mayumi flushed with a little embarrassment. She had to keep herself calm and controlled. Letting her eyes wander would look suspicious.

Ornov leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "This is just a simple precaution. Combat can be trying and the stress can get to you. The IMC likes to keep all its Pilots preforming at their best."

"Oh..." She said quietly.

"Sure," he said almost enthusiastically, "In fact, I've been reviewing your record. You've got quite a talent."

"How's that?"

"In the last six days days, you've gone up against bad odds and survived every encounter. That's quite impressive. Especially that operation in Angel City, taking on three SRS Pilots. Well, let's just say, I wish we had more like you." He breathed out the last word as he leaned back in his chair.

 _There shouldn't be more like me_. Mayumi told Ornov internally.

"You disagree?" Ornov raised an eyebrow.

"I- uh-" She floundered trying to find what to say.

"It's quite alright." He leaned forward to sip the coffee from his desk. "Naturally, there are side effects from long term combat engagements. Outside of these has your personal life been suffering?"

"How so?"

"Issues with squad mates? Trouble with a loved one? A letter from home? Anything, that might distract you from your ability to focus on combat. I'm here to help."

"I don't think so." She glanced away.

"Pilot Sato. Or do you prefer Mayumi? Is that alright? Mayumi then. I will be honest with you, tracking your performance over the last week has been quite impressive. However there's been emotional disturbances in the links we've monitored. Specifically starting on March 8th during the Colony mission. Could you tell me anything about that?"

"There were civilians being killed under a repealed clause."

"They weren't civilians," Ornov corrected her, "I'm aware of the clause you're speaking of but however unarmed they were, the former crew of the _IMS Odyssey_ are considered enemy combatants or sympathizers. Regardless of legal standing."

"So that's it?"

"Yes." He stated simply.

"But how can that-"

Ornov raised a hand to stop her, "I merely provide support for Pilot's mental well being. Corporate politics and policies are quite above me. Back to you, please, was this the situation that upset you?"

"Yes, well no." She took a deep breath and then told Ornov everything. About Nimr. About what happened on Planet Victor. About how Blisk was using her memories of Nimr to get back at her for questioning him. She told him every feeling that haunted her since Whitehead. Mayumi had choked on her words, wiped tears from her eyes, and taken several long breaths. The doctor listened quietly and intently, taking every word of her's paying close and careful attention. When she had finished talking she sat there on the couch, her chin resting on her knees. She stared at the steel paneled floor, not wanting to meet the eyes of man who in moments would sentence her for treason. Mayumi was sure of it, in fact wanted it. To be finally over with the whole thing. The farce this all was. She could join Nimr again maybe in whatever world he was in now.

Ornov took in a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. "Mayumi, I think I have a good suggestion for you. Have you considered upgrading to a Generation 2 chip?"

She shook her head.

"It appears to me that that may be an excellent option for you. These memories of yours could be alleviated entirely from the benefits a G2 chip provides." When Mayumi didn't say anything Ornov continued. "You've already proven yourself a capable Pilot and I'm sure the IMC would hate to see that talent go to waste. G2 would enhance your current muscle memory but your memory and all those experiences would be lost."

The words from days ago resurfaced in her mind. Once you went to G2, your service goes from temporary to permanent. Was she ready for that kind of solution to something seemingly so human? Wasn't that like cutting off the head to cure the headache?

"I understand," Ornov interupted, "that's a lot to take in at once. There are of course, several medications and treatments designed to help alleviate the symptoms of PTSD. Think of me, as an advocate, for your well being." He smiled, practiced and forced. Mayumi looked again at his eyes: Calm, lucid, and completely bloodshot.

"What's wrong with treatments?" Mayumi asked him.

"Nothing. It's a perfectly valid way of working through it." Ornov waved a hand dismissively. The therapist starred away from her out the window overlooking the Artemisium port. "Consider, however, that... resetting your memory would be the quickest way to move past your problem. Sergeant Blisk has found a way, you say, to hurt you as revenge. If you no longer have those memories, how could they hurt you anymore?"

"You're telling me to forget someone I loved!" Mayumi protested. "How is that a cure?"

Ornov still stared out the window. "Yes, that is the downside to this solution but after everything you told me of him, would his dream of rebuilding the Core Systems come true if you didn't do everything you could to bring peace on the Frontier?"

"No!" Mayumi jumped out of the chair. "You do not get to use his dream as justification for your corporate agenda! It was beautiful, just like he was!"

She stormed out of Ornov's office. Ornov said something to her but she didn't catch it. There was too much to process, too many emotions at once. Mayumi ran down the hall before she slowed to a walk. She slammed the wall with the bottom of her fist.

"Damnit!" She swore to herself.

Mayumi had let the doctor get to her. Maybe he was right? It might be best to forget about Nimr altogether. Her feelings about him were a double edge sword. Nimr comforted her but also haunted her. That pain is what kept her alive. Without it, she would be like Grendel.

Mayumi shuddered. The thought of his icy voice sent chills down her spine. If she became a G2, would she end up like him: cold and calculating? It was hard to think he was ever human in the first place. Is that what the IMC thought soldiers should become in order to bring peace to the Frontier? If that's the case, then whats the difference between being human or a machine?

She punched the wall again.

"To all Titan Pilots, this is Sergeant Blisk. Suit up and report to the main hanger bay." His voice echoed over the PA.

Mayumi got to the squad ready room about ten minutes later. Barrett and Harper were already there. The latter was furiously rubbing her hair with a towel. Barrett was already suited up and ready to go, just shutting his locker door as Mayumi entered the room.

"Stupid idea anyways." Barrett said offhand to Harper.

"Bug off." She said throwing the towel down and sliding a sports bra over her head and smoothed it down. "How was I supposed to know we'd get called out to protect the shipyard?!"

"You don't. That's why it's an after mission routine."

"Wot! No 's not!" She whined at him while tying her hair up into a bun.

Mayumi went to her locker pulling out the armor pieces and slipped into the armor suit. Wordlessly, she clipped the pieces on and withdrew the Smart Pistol from its rack and holstered it.

Winters rushed in, Hemlock resting on her shoulder, helmet tucked under her arm. She quickly assessed the room. "Harper, hurry up and get your suit on. Mayumi, you stay on CC. Take harper with you to Outpost 210, we're deploying to 197. Listen to Sato okay, Harper? She'll keep you alive." She turned to Barrett. "Let's go."

Barrett collected the rest of his gear and followed Winter out the same door she came in. Mayumi looked back at Harper who had paused to watch the pair leave. She snapped her fingers at Harper.

"She meant today."

"Right, yes, Ma'am!" Harper quickly stepped to and adjusted her hip belt and holster.

"Harper." Mayumi called for her attention again.

"Yes?" Harper looked up flustered.

"You're a marksman, right?"

"Yeah, Class 1. Why?"

"Good. When we're down there let's watch each other's backs okay?"

"Sounds good to me." Harper said as she adjusted on the rest of her armor.

The pair arrived at the hanger bay. It was crowded with activity as both Pilot and Grunts, Marvins and auxiliary personnel bustled about the _Sentinel's_ hanger deploying all Pilots to the deck below. Near the center of the hanger a large crowd had gathered. Raised above was Sergeant Blisk already addressing the procession of Pilots. Mayumi swallowed hard as her mouth felt dry.

"... This is not R-n-R." Mayumi heard him say as they approached. "There is a high likelihood that the Militia, desperate as they are, may try to attack the _Sentinel_. The main Anti-Orbital Defense guns will wipe out any ships that appear in this air space. Your mission will be to wipe up any stragglers that make it land side. Alright, move it out!" Blisk whisked up both his hands, thumbs facing towards the Goblin dropships behind him.

"Listen up!" A crewman bellowed, "All Pilots assigned to 197 proceed to Hanger 1, Hanger 2 is for all Pilots assigned to 207, Hanger 4 is all pilots for 210." The crewman went on repeating the deployment as the procession shuffled towards their dropships.

"I wonder why, they're not deploying us by squad?" Harper asked aloud.

"It's better not to think too much about it. We'll be able to function better this way." Mayumi said haughtily.

"True. At Severn, they taught us to act as individual units. Though, to be honest," She adjusted the strap of her sidewinder and her longbow-DMR, "carrying all three weapons might be taking it a bit far. I feel like a bloody one-woman army."

Mayumi consciously regarded the two pistols strapped on either side of her hips, the charge rifle nestled just above her jump kit. What Harper said did have some truth to it. Mayumi did have the lighter side of it though and her Smart Pistol made her Hammond side arm almost irrelevant.

"That's probably the point." Mayumi agreed.

Harper frowned but remained silent as they approached hanger 4. There were several drop ships already idling. A Marvin directed them on board an available Goblin. Mayumi and Harper filled up the last two seats sitting closest to the drop door. The Marvin came aboard gripping the bay door controls and pulled down on the lever.

"Strap in Pilots. We're gonna be here a while." The pilot said over the intercom.

"Repairs are underway, Vice-admiral." Spyglass informed Graves.

Graves wiped his eyes. "Good. Keep me posted."

Blisk walked into the command room and rested an arm on a console. "All Pilots briefed and ready to go, Sir."

"Good. We'll stay on standby." Graves replied, keeping his eyes on the holo-display.

"Sir, there's a request for you from ARES." Spyglass informed him.

"ARES?" Graves frowned. It was probably the impersonal and objective head of research, General Marder. "What do they want?"

"The survivors from the Colony."

"I wasn't aware of any other survivors besides the boy." Graves looked to Blisk for an answer.

"I only do, what I get paid to." He replied simply. "Anything else gets processed by the tin-can over there."

Graves sighed and rested his head on his hand. "Fine. What they do with them is their business."

"The boy, Vice-admiral. We should transfer him over too." Blisk urged.

Graves hesitated from the giving the go ahead. This kid might know things about MacAllan. He might not get a chance to learn something about MacAllan all those years ago. "No, Blisk. Transfer him to my quarters. I'll interview him first. Allocate two sentries to guard the door."

Blisk's eyes narrowed with some annoyance with a task so beneath him. "Yes, sir."

Graves disregarded Blisk. The Mercenary was too narrow minded to understand. Perhaps, Graves was letting his personal feeling cloud his judgement. In either case, sending the boy to the reeducation camps or to Marder's ARES division didn't sit right with him deep down.

"Spyglass."

"Yes, Vice-admiral." Spyglass regarded him.

"Take control of the bridge, I'll be in my quarters."

The Spectre lingered on him for a moment, the blue lights pulsing before it spoke again, "Of course."

Graves opened the door to his quarters. They were a far cry from the rest of the ship's design spartan design. The windows were long, triple reinforced panels of glass with a mixture of authentic Brazilian wood from the Amazon and Greek marble. His posh quarters were almost an exact replica of those he had had on the _Odyssey_. They were, in fact, the last place he and MacAllan had spoken before the mutiny.

Graves shrugged off the tactical vest and wrapped it around a chair and opened up his collar. It had been a trying week so far. Three days in port would be exactly what he'd need to collect himself. So far MacAllan had followed the Playbook as much as he had back in the day. Graves felt he needed those days to understand how to stop MacAllan.

The Playbook was the theoretical steps needed for the Militia to attack Demeter. James had cheated just in order to make the situation's viable. Considering the amount of damage he'd been able to cause so far, was worrying to Graves. The Vice-admiral felt like he was on the receiving end of Rommel and his Afrika-Korps as they drove on Torbruk in 1941.

Graves chuckled. Maybe that was his problem, he kept applying battles of the past to the present. MacAllan probably knew this. They had been close friends after the Titan Wars and went on to design the Playbook together. His betrayal had cut him deep but it had taught him something as well; he was loved and Graves was not. Seeing as how he was able to convince the entire crew to his cause. Even bringing his wife aboard should of told Graves something was amiss.

The bell chord to his door rang interrupting his thoughts.

"Come in." Graves answered.

The door opened revealing Blisk accompanying the boy, followed closely behind by two Grunts. Blisk looked none too pleased about the whole thing, in fact more so than usual. Graves was concerned that his penchant for violence was becoming all consuming in his military advisor. The boy was shaking as though he was about to meet a thing of nightmares. Perhaps, in some way, that was true.

"Get in, eh." Blisk curtly pushed the boy.

"That'll be all, Blisk" Graves said forcefully.

Blisk scoffed and departed, the door shutting behind him. The boy stood just inside the room afraid to come in any farther. Graves sat down in a chair and crossed his legs.

"What's your name?"

The boy was quiet but puffed his chest.

"Do you know who I am?" Graves asked.

"You're Graves."

"I suspect you quite dislike me already."

"My father told me a lot about you." The boy said, his frown deepening.

"Oh. And who's your father?"

"Charlie Turner."

"Hm, yes. I remember him. Large fellow, worked in engineering."

The boy crossed his arms.

"Are you hungry?"

"No." The boy lied.

"Tell you what. You tell me your name and I'll have them bring you whatever you want." Graves said trying to entice the kid.

"Release the rest of my friends, we didn't do anything." He demanded.

Graves chuckled and turned his head to the table. He removed the napkin ring and placed the napkin on his lap. He pushed a button on an intercom. "O'Connell, a Margret de Canard Montemorency if you would."

"Yes, sir." The chef replied. "Would you like an accompaniment, sir?"

"Surprise me."

"Excellent. Anything else Vice-admiral?"

Graves gave the boy a questioning glance. The boy was about to open his mouth when the intercom flashed another voice.

"There's a Milita Ship coming into our airspace sir."

"The Militia's never been desperate enough to attack us here!" Blisk's voice replied almost immediately. "So they want to get rid of the _Sentinel_ that bad, eh?"

Graves released the intercom to the chef dropped the napkin on the table. He stood up from the table and pulled another microphone off the wall. "Doesn't matter- we're ready for them. Spyglass, get our Pilots to the outpost."

"Jumping in now, Vice-admiral."

Graves hung up the mic and grabbed the tactical vest from the back of the chair stormed past the boy. MacAllan wasn't about to let up, was he?

Winters rocked in her place as the drop ship decelerated from warp. Graves must've meant business if they jumped the 10 klicks to the outpost. The fresh wave of stims coursed through her body keeping her alert as she scanned the port side window. She picked up green bodies scattering all over the base. The Marvin of their dropship pulled down the lever releasing the drop door. The Pilots took the signal and leapt one by one out of the Goblin.

Winters landed on the deck of the outpost. She tilted her head up from the ground and saw two Marvin's waving signal landing lights. They had told her at brief that these facilities were mostly staffed by Marvins. Making them excellent targets in hind-sight.

Behind the Marvins, the imposing AOD gun heated up. Red light building up inside the barrel, an effect similar to the Charge Rifle, she remembered. The gun reaching critical mass, fired, striking the side of the invading Militia ship. It was soon joined by several other guns in overkilling the single target.

"Sir," Blisk turned to Graves as he entered the bridge. "that ship- it had no life signs, no shields."

"Of course- it's a decoy." Graves suddenly realized. He cursed himself for being too slow to see it earlier.

 _The Militia just landed on Outpost 210!_ A grunt cried over the com chatter.

 _Outpost 197 here, we're under attack!_ Came another cry of distress.

"Sir, if they control the cannon array, the _Sentinel's_ got no chance." Blisk said in a worrying tone.

Graves brought up the operations channel, "Pilots, clear the outpost of all Militia forces! I want ground intercept aircraft running sorties and all available phantoms to deploy Titans. Now!"

He sat in his chair and looked out across the halo-display of the shipyard. Graves looked at the current outposts under attack: 197, 207, 210. It was so far, small and localized. He wondered why.

"Barrett! Stay on my ass, we're moving right!" Winters yelled out.

"Copy!"

She ran up the ramp keeping the turret on her left as she maneuvered away from the large control room. The turret locked onto a Crow drop ship and ripped it apart. It's wreckage spinning end over end into the abyssal side of the facility.

Winters tightened her grip on her Hemlock. Free, from the urban warfare scenario of Angel City, they allowed the Pilots to use any loadout they wished. She had to say, she was eager to hear the characteristic "burp" again of the rifle.

The pair of them entered a large factory. She reflexively checked the corners for any surprises. Barrett brought up the rear, looking for targets behind them.

"I've lived on the _Sentinel_ for five years now and I ain't ever seen Graves go on the offensive like this." Barrett commented.

"That's because MacAllan's running their show now. He's ex-IMC and he's got to know how we operate." Winters answered him. She slid up to a container and popped around the corner. Barrett leapfrogged ahead of her moving deeper into the factory. "If you ask me, we should change up our strategy too."

"Not our call, I guess." He answered her.

Barrett hopped up onto a wall and boosted over to the staircase. Winters followed up behind him. The two of them followed the staircase towards the exit door. Barrett gave the door a swift kick and they both moved into the outside.

A series of Phantoms flew over head, their engines momentarily dulling the noise of the battlefield. Winters followed their trail as the aircraft's main gun opened up on the other side of the outpost. A series of orange fireballs erupted just barely visible over the outpost's buildings.

"That must be where the fight is." She nodded her head.

"For now, anyways." Barrett cautiously agreed.

"Let's do it." She popped over the railing, letting herself fall for a moment before she boosted forward again grabbing the next railing of the observatory. Winters swung a leg over the banister and landed in a crouch. So far, they hadn't seen any Militia terrorists, Winters wondered where they were hiding. Another explosion erupted in the distance.

Mayumi watched Harper lead another target before she snapped back on the trigger. The outlaw spun as the impact struck him in the upper shoulder. Harper released another round that followed up in the lower abdomen.

"It's a tad under." Mayumi commented.

"Yeah," She replied pulling her optical lens from the sight, "I need to go down a notch on the forward grip."

She watched as Harper snapped the small forward grip down a notch and then resumed following another target. A moment later and Harper dropped another target.

"Pilot, moving at 3 O'clock low." Harper alerted Mayumi.

"Back in a minute." Mayumi swung off the roof they were on, twisting her body to face away from the building and boosted forward. She saw the target. A lone pilot with a R-101. His uniform badly frayed and singed, like all the other hand-me-downs uniforms of the Militia. _Like dogs._ The thought jumped into Mayumi's mind.

The Pilot ducked and weaved, clearly trying to out manuever the bead that Harper was trying to draw on him. He hadn't noticed her as of yet, Mayumi was going to get the drop on him. She forcefully snapped her head forward, shaking the visor on her helmet to fall over her eyes.

The readout was the two brackets of the Smart Pistols acquisition range. The gun's aiming tendrils snapped to the enemy Pilot. He noticed, his body language registered the new target that was now behind him.

 _One lock on._

The enemy boosted right following the grove on the building, still shielding himself from Harper's rifle but breaking up the hold of the Smart Pistol. Mayumi tucked in after him, her trajectory carrying her over the trench and onto the roof. Holding the gun in front of her the as the second tendril beeped and clicked into place.

 _Two lock ons._

The terrorist shifted his pace again. He slid into an open gap of the building dropping below. A bullet from Harper punctured a hole just right of the opening.

"Sorry!" Harper yelped over the radio.

Mayumi didn't reply, she maintained the locks as she slid after the Pilot down the same hole. Suddenly, she was falling as her body fell through the air. The second tendril had disappeared but the first still clung onto enemy as he ran for his left now. She rolled forward and her body slid a little from her speed and momentum. The hexagonal lock icon now moved up over a large freighter crate as the Pilot meant to get the jump on her. The second lock on returned as he fired a lengthly barrage at her. Over his helmet she could her the woman scream at her. Mayumi spun behind cover and kicked off the other side as a third tendril reached out for the enemy Pilot.

 _Three lock ons._

They almost collided with each other in the air. The Pilot tried to extend her leg out to kick her but was too slow to make the connection. Mayumi passed the other Pilot by rolling back into a crouch stance and held the Smart Pistol out as the fourth and final tendril connected into place.

Mayumi squeezed the trigger and four successive shots of her gun smacked into the enemy Pilot via their already plotted trajectories. The Militia Pilot slumped to the floor. Mayumi relaxed and pulled up her visor. She was beginning to understand Mercer's attitude towards the gun. With it, she had the ability to better maneuver with out the need to aim. Down side to it though, was it drained her stims.

She injected another stim to replenish her levels. Her vision whirled again as the adrenaline coursed through her system. Afterwards, she began to find her way back to harper.

"Harper, this is Mayumi."

"Go ahead."

"I've got the Pilot, on my way back now."

"One sec." Harper's voice echoed. Mayumi looked upward as Harper dropped in through the ceiling like she had. She landed some feet away from her and perked up, her RE-45 in hand. "Good, you got 'em."

"What're you doing?" Mayumi looked at her strangely.

"Huh? Well, I wasn't going to let you go it alone!" Harper blurted out, her cheeks a light red.

"You left your post." Mayumi stated coldly.

"I- uh, yeah. You might've needed help here." She protested.

"Forget it, we have to change vantage points now anyways."

The bridge exploded into a red light as warning lights snapped on. Graves drew his attention to the the halo-board. The readout showed the targeting was coming from the cannon on Outpost 210.

"Blisk what the hell is going on down there- we're being targeted by our own guns!"

"Sir, the outpost cannon array! It's being bypassed remotely!"

"They're going to use the outpost cannons to destroy the sentinel! Warp us out of here!" Graves shouted.

"No time sir!" Blisk gripped a bar for support.

Graves imitated him and grabbed onto the armrests of his chair. "All hands, brace for impact!"

The ship rocked as the railgun's projectile smashed into the hull. Graves was nearly thrown from his chair. He glared up at the halo-board as it fizzled for a moment and returned to clarity. The red triangles on the display signified ground troops but there were no larger icons for Titans.

"Blisk, secure that outpost now! I want all those Militia terrorists wiped from the deck!"

"With pleasure, sir." Blisk grinned and rushed from the bridge.

"Spyglass, find out how they're accessing our guns and put a stop to it now!"

"Right away, Vice-admiral."

Winters dropped to a knee. Under her helmet her face was filled with horror. That was their own railgun. The Militia had somehow gained access to them. That shouldn't even be possible. She looked back to Barrett. He looked stoic from the outside but even his rigid stance showed he was just as shocked as she was.

"Barrett." She spoke to him. "How is that even possible?"

"I- I don't know. Damn, that MacAllan! That sonuva bitch!"

"We've got to stop these terrorists before they finish the _Sentinel_ off!"

"Hell yeah. I'm with you Winters." Barrett outstretched his hand to help Winters up. She too it and was hoisted up to her feet.

"This is Winters, requesting Titanfall." She indicated with her wrist-com where to drop her Titan.

"Standby for Titanfall." An tech crewman confirmed.

Winters brought Barrett's arm up to an arm wrestle position and gripped it tight, "Let's kill 'em all!"

Barrett gave an excited roar and prepared his own Titanfall. A small corvette-class ship passed over the outpost.

"Pilots, this _Tegyra_ control, standby for Titanfall."

The Titan bay doors of the corvette opened and several Titans made their descent to the ground. Winters' landed some 12 meters off from her indicated position but it wasn't too bad for that cowboy pass the _Tegyra_ had just pulled.

Winters rushed forward towards her Titan she had called in. The Ogre Titan stood resolutely amongst the dust and debris it's landing had caused. Her body moved past the dome shield as she sprung into the cockpit. Once inside, she brought up the SAT-link image of the outpost.

"Barrett! It looks like most of the Militia rats have gone to ground inside the facilities."

"Ah, figures." His Atlas pulled the Quad-Rocket over the top of its head. "Okay, so what's the plan?"

"We'll swing around the outpost and push them towards the port side of the facility." She said as she traced a finger around the SAT image. "I'll lead, you plug any _holes_ we find."

"Sounds good. Should've deployed with a Trip then."

"Rockets are just as good." Winters' Titan gripped the 40mm and hefted it up into view of the cockpit. "Let's move out!"

"Right behind you."

It was fast. Grunts were falling so fast in front of her that Mayumi was having trouble keeping up with how often she had to change mags. Harper and her had made there way into another part of the outpost. Harper had set up again just inside a room overlooking the gun control building. Occasionally Mayumi heard the report of her Longbow and her excited "Yes!" over the radio.

A Militia Pilot appeared rocketing off the wall. Mayumi grabbed him by the elbow and slammed him against the wall shoving the Smart Pistol into his chest and letting off four synchronized rounds. She pivoted and hurled the body back through the doorway.

Mayumi was suddenly overcome with exertion. Maintaining her speed and the incredible amount of cardio had burned through her stims already. She reflexively tried to dose again but the blurred vision never arrived announcing the extra boost of energy. It was out.

"H-Harper!" She tiredly called. Mayumi collapsed onto the floor. The extra adrenaline high dropping from her system leaving her brain crashing. Her vision blurred as she fought hard to keep her eyes open. Harper turned to her and began to rush over.

An outlaw Pilot dropped in through a skylight and Harper only just managed to bring up her Longbow-DMR to block the kick. She lowered her body onto her back and thrusted the attacker behind her. They both recovered and grappled again. Harper kneed the man in the gut breaking his grip and delivered a swift punch into his helmet. The enemy Pilot shook his head blocking her next punch with his arm and then gave her one of his own.

Harper's head snapped back from the blow and the terrorist Pilot took the initiative to spin her around and smash her up against a series of lockers. The force of the blow smashed a large dent into the lockers and broke Harper's face mask. Blood dripped down her face from a long cut on her forehead and just above the bridge of her nose. Harper brought her arms up to the Militia Pilot's forearms trying to wrench them off.

"May-umi! Shoot!" Harper gritted her teeth.

The enemy Pilot ripped the sniper hood back, revealing her tangle of brown hair, and threw her against the lockers again. Mayumi was subconsciously aware of the locks of her smart pistol, barely acknowledging the sound of completed locks. She hadn't felt this helpless since Whitehead. What she did was stupid. Over-stimming herself like that was such a rookie error, one that was made by the effort she put on keeping her self stimmed to keep the locks going.

How could she of let someone die for another one of her mistakes. Nimr's face came to mind, she felt sick like throwing up but soldiered past it and clutched the trigger letting the smart pistol send four calculated shots into Harper's assailant.

Harper shoved the dying Pilot off of her and connected his jaw with her fist, repeatedly before letting it slump to the floor. Mayumi felt herself roll onto her back with the blurry image of Harper hovering over her as she went in and out of conscious.

"That's twice you've saved my life." She murmured to a now almost completely unconscious Mayumi. Harper pulled out a stim and stabbed Mayumi's leg. She held the stim in place for a second before tossing it away and held onto the leg as she rolled Mayumi back onto her side.

Her stomach turned and Mayumi vomitted. For once, grateful for the lack of visorplate on her helmet. Once, she'd had a good amount of heaving, she wiped her mouth clear of the dribble of stomach contents and spat. Harper gave her a jocular slap on the back and Mayumi coughed. She righted herself up and slid up the visor of the Smart Pistol interface.

"Thank you." Mayumi breathed.

She clicked her tongue, "Let's get you back on your feet." Harper clasped her hand and hoisted her back up. Harper yanked the stealth hood back over and snuggled up the face mask portion leaving just her eyes visible.

Mayumi checked the slide of the pistol, spotting a round in the chamber. She slid the visor back down and the readout checked out. Harper's face was missing her's though. Mayumi pointed with her finger and made a circular motion around her eyes.

"Oh! Bastard broke it in the row. I'll be fine."

"Right."

"Pilots." Blisk's voice cut in over the comms. "This is Tac Six. The Militia are attempting to destroy the _Sentinel_ with our own guns. Take back those command control rooms now!" There was a noise in the background that ended with a corresponding thud. A thud Mayumi also heard.

Harper pointed out the pillars of dust sprung up on each landing zone of the outpost. Mayumi was surprised. Blisk had dropped in a Titan with several other Pilots. She knew of his impressive record but it didn't mention he was a Pilot. Then again he was something of a prominent enigma amongst the Pilots on the _Sentinel._

"Fire!" Mayumi heard Blisk order and all the Titans almost simultaneously fired with a deafening crescendo of Titan ordanance and heavy arms. In short order, there was huge looming gap in the structure. It was intense and had she not had on the ear plugs under her headphones, she was sure the sound would've deafened her.

Blisk chuckled, "Now there's a hole. Oi, Pilots, get in there and finish the job."

"Go! I'll cover you!" Harper patted Mayumi out the door. "Just don't fall down again, yeah?"

"You just watch your back." Mayumi retorted and pushed off the windowsill onto the next building's wall. A series of parkour jumps later and she had landed atop the cannon control building. Below her, a mixed assembly of Grunts and Pilots swarmed the building from multiple angles.

A deep hum rumbled the ground and Mayumi turned to see the railgun behind her begin to faintly glow red. She gasped and followed the imaginary line from the barrel and saw the gun aim towards the _Sentinel_.

Mayumi sprung into action, sprinting down the section of roofing and dropping down into a gap. Three Grunts maintained this section of the wall, firing wildly at their choice of targets. Mayumi raised the Smart Pistol to tackle all three targets at once but each was consecutively knocked back from the wall. Mayumi gave a small nod of thanks to Harper as she slid through a doorway.

She entered the control room proper. It seemed all that was left the motley batch of Grunts, one nearest the console was holding his helmet screaming words she couldn't hear. The Smart Pistol reached out to four targets almost immediately. Mayumi saw that it was the group closest to the console. As soon as the lock ons were complete she pulled the trigger and the world at once exploded.

There was so much visual information coming in at once. Pilots descended from the ceiling from the cooling rods next to her, the windows on the opposite end of the room. It was sheer amount of overkill and each grunt easily took a hand full of bullets each. It was quiet and Mayumi could hear shell casings drop and bounce along the floor.

"Clear up!" A Pilot aside her sounded off.

"Clear down." A Pilot on the other side of the room replied back holding his hand high.

Then Blisk entered the room with presumably the rest of the IMC garrison forces behind him. The Grunts ran ahead of him and drew their weapons on the Militia bodies that now littered the floor. As the Grunts passed by one of the Pilots Mayumi heard them remark "Careful, they might shoot back." His partner snickered.

Blisk descended the set of stairs and stepped over the corpses towards a single man. The Militia Grunt was barely speaking, his hand still outstretched on the console trying to his very last breath to still fire the gunt.

"This is Private Quinsedi... The IMC have overrun the outpost... they're all dead. My whole squad is dead..."

Blisk slapped the helmet off the outlaw and the man careened to the floor. Blisk drew a Wingman from his hip holster and put a single round into the side of his head.

"Sir! Outpost 210 is secured."

Winters dropped the spent 40mm box and slotted in a new one. The command control building was on the other side the armory. She saw it from her position. Barrett and her had cleared out what they could find.

Suddenly, Barret's Atlas dodged out of the way of an incoming Phantom. The wreck smashed in to the armory and its debris spewed around the deck of the outpost. The little globe atop his Titan swung back towards her.

"You good?"

"What the hell! I thought we had air superiority."

"They must've jacked the turret." Barrett suggested.

"Push on through this way around." She directed with her Titan's arm. "We'll come from the clear side and push towards it. That way we'll clean up the stragglers."

"Copy that." Barrett swung the globe back around and proceeded forward.

When they had come around, the space between the other buildings and the command control building was filled with Grunts and Titans making their way into the building. Barrett stopped short and raised his Titan's arm to hold.

"Hey- isn't that..." he started.

Winters moved in front of him her camera moving forward to lock onto a Pilot in both IMC silvers and Militia green armor. The contours of his face looked similar, the hair, the grin. Then the Pilot brought up a mag launcher and started dropping flares. Winters blinked confused. That couldn't be Ramirez. He was listed as KIA since yesterday after Angel City as the Kodai building was being demolished. Iker was alive but with the enemy. Had they turned him? Was he being forced to do this? Winters' mind raced with other possible scenarios until Barrett's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Incoming! Get out of the lane!" Barrett's Titan grabbed her Titan's shoulder but was no match for the Ogre's size. "Move! Damnit!"

Winters swung the large beast of a machine around and used her one boost to try and clear the lane. It wasn't fast enough and the impact tossed her Titan forward onto it's front. She felt the heat from the bombs and most of her systems short circuited as the battery was melted. She waited for the roar of bombs and heat to abate before she pulled the hatch override popping the top of the Ogre open like a lid. Barrett's Titan kneeled down in front of hers and extended it's hand.

"What the fuck just happened." Barrett said and he opened the hatch to his Atlas.

"Ramirez," Her face twisted into a scowl. "he's betrayed us."

"Spyglass, ground status?" Graves demanded of the enhanced Spectre unit.

"Pilots have gained control of most of the outposts and Militia forces are falling back."

"Good work Pilots, all non-essential crew get to your lifeboats. Everyone else strap in and prepare for emergency landing."

Blisk's crackled portrait came on screen, "Sir! The _Sentinel_ has critical structural damage. Crash landing will ground her forever."

"She's still valuable Blisk. We'll strip her armor, weapons, and drive systems."

"Understood, sir." Blisk's portrait vanished.

"Vice-admiral Graves, the _Sentinel_ is lost."

"Spyglass, direct command personal to _IMC Colossus_. Raise her designation to flagship of the fleet."

"Yes, sir." Spyglass complied.

"Chart a course for installation. Designation: Boneyard."

The Spectre's blue light brightened. "The Boneyard location is classified, sir."

"Override at my authorization. MacAllan's man Barker knows the way. We're gonna beat 'em there."

Grendel grabbed another weapon off the rack and began firing it. The heavier Krab-AP took a moment to adjust but once his arms had gotten the weight they compensated for it. He fired the five rounds and ripped out the magazine and inserted a new one from virtual space. He dropped it and it replaced itself on the weapon racks.

He'd been doing this for the last hour testing how long his arms would hold out for. So far it had lasted beyond his expectations. This Dr. Yisv had certainly done well. Grendel grabbed an RE-45 from the racks and held it one handed testing how well his arms could hold the recoil. The gun barely shook in his new cybernetic replacements.

A flash of blue light signaled the arrival of Dr. Yisv. He looked pleased. Grendel stopped firing and tossed the gun aside. The doctor put his arms behind his back and raised his chin.

"It is done."

"Good."

"I trust you've spent your time her productively."

"Yes."

"That is well. We'll be bring you out of VR in a minute but, first I must make something abundantly clear."

Grendel nodded.

"At your new chip level, the integration with the new arms will be complete but we will need to wipe your memory clean again for the installation to go correctly. You will wake up not remembering your last fluctuation of memory after G2."

"Fine."

"Well then, see you when you wake up, Pilot."

Then it was like someone turned out the light and then back on. He awoke in a medical room. Surrounded by staff he had never seen before by a doctor who smiled at him as if he knew him. These people were all new.

"Hello Pilot." The doctor said. "My name is Doctor Gorbin Yisv. You've just come out of surgery. You may not remember but these arms were built with your particular talent built in. The VR training you underwent was recorded and integrated into their muscle memory. At this moment, you are faster, stronger, _better_ than any other normal Pilot."

 _Better._

"I'd like you to demonstrate this fact."

"Yes." The words came before he could even think them.

"Good." Dr. Ysiv turned away. "There's a Goblin waiting to take you to the shipyard at Artmesium. There you'll be assigned to the _IMS Sentinel_. We will be recording combat data. All I ask is that you stay alive."

"I'll do my best."

Dr. Yisv flashed him a smile, "No no, you're not the best. You're much much better." He chuckled wickedly.

"You're right." Grendel observed the robotic arms attached to his body. He observed his hands. "I am better." _I must always be better._

* * *

Hi! I hope you've all been well. A small update. I've been going back and doing some edits on earlier chapters. You'll know which ones have been edited and those that haven't by the year. All those with 2212 are the newest updated chapters as of June 17th. The reason for this, and why the year exists at all, is that Titanfall is very reluctant to give any year at all. Cooper is born in '87, which meant that 2145 was too early. Second, 2212 is like the future date of 1812, where America was invaded by the British, so I felt it was in keeping with Titanfall's revolutionary war theme.

Thanks for reading!


	11. Chapter 6A: Don't Feed the Animals

Badlands System

1st Militia Fleet en route to IMC Black site "Boneyard"

2212, March 9th 2050h

Charlie felt his throat burn as his breath ran ragged. The courses weren't too out of the ordinary but all of it was happening so fast. He'd been young once, fifteen years ago when they first crashed on Troy. Now, his knees ached each time he lumbered awkwardly onto a wall. Charlie was old, slow, but still strong.

"Again." Talea's voice ordered him.

Charlie slapped his hands to his knees and blew out a great breath. He looked back at the course he just ran. The walls and drops and the double jumps he had just passed. Charlie stood back up, straightening his back with a crack. This was for his son, Russel, hopefully still safe with Woodman back on Troy. The thought of him in the hands of the IMC made him queasy and he pushed the emotion back down. Charlie pushed off and ran the course again.

"He's slow." Chung said to Talea, sobering from how lackluster Charlie's performance was. Even Grissom had left the booze and food on the crate practically untouched. Talea looked at him and nodded in agreement. Not every trainee was a winner, she knew that, but any Grunt would've outperformed him. Any person practically on this ship would've done better, she suspected, just by default. Combat stress had that way on people.

"Stick him... in a Titan." Grissom leaned on his hand and yawned.

"Yeah, okay." Talea said, then to charlie. "Hey, let's try the Titan course."

"Alright." Charlie replied.

Charlie saw the world reconfigure into a wide open training ground. His wristcom was pulsing. The icon on it was a Titan in a crouch just after a landing. He timidly poked it and an AI confirmed the Titanfall command.

"Look up, big guy." Talea's voice echoed around the training ground.

Charlie did so, watching the stream of fire from a rocket the Titan roared towards the earth. It smashed into the ground. Dust and debris kicked up and Charlie covered his face reflexively.

The cockpit doors swung open like an oven and Charlie awkwardly climbed in. He bumped multiple objects inside but eventually seated himself. His bulky width was having trouble fitting into the tight cockpit space.

"A Titan is built to be an extension of yourself." Talea explained. "Trying moving the guns around. There ya go. Good. Okay, I'm gonna spawn some infantry. Think you can handle it?"

"Shouldn't be too hard." Charlie sniffed, gripping the controls.

"We'll see." Talea grinned.

She looked back at Chung and Grissom who had both nodded off, their heads leaning together for support. Talea grinned as Chung snored loudly. Suddenly, she was hit with a yawn too and she rubbed her eye to keep the sleep away.

When she looked back, Charlie had almost cleared the infantry and Talea thought perhaps something more interesting was in order. She got up from the interface and she sunk herself into a Hammond training pod and started it up. Before she loaded in however, she selected herself in as an opposing Titan.

Charlie looked up into the sky as another Titan rocketed down towards the ground. He let his gun droop as he watched the new Titan rise. As soon as the dust cleared, the other Titan began firing at him. It's salvo took him by complete surprise and he panicked by boosting away, smashing into a building he forgot was there.

Talea took the initiative he just gave her, by punishing his movement with a lock on of missile ordnance. The missiles struck his hull and Charlie fired back with a long clutch of his trigger. The bullets going wide of Talea's Titan.

"You have to do better than that." Talea taunted him. "If you want to survive on the battlefield!"

Her Titan surged forward making herself vulnerable but showing dominance too. Charlie saw her approach and foolishly turned to run away instead trying to escape as his XO reloaded. It was all a sim but it felt real. The heat, the cockpit, the rumblings of the ground as the Titans shook the earth.

Another salvo and his shields were depleted. His whole body rocked as the kinetic force from the rounds shook and jumbled the his whole machine. Charlie found his nerve and wheeled his Titan around and threw a left hook into Talea's chasing Titan.

It was a predictable move and she easily dodged the incoming punch by leaning the Titan left and then sticking the XO-16 straight into the chassis. Charlie froze waiting to the sim to end or her bullets to fire. Her Titan retracted and then rose it's gun into the air and her cockpit opened.

"Hey! You've got passion and I respect that." She put her hands on her hips. "But you ain't got the kind of talent it takes to become a Pilot. Maybe you did back in the day but not now. No way."

Charlie collapsed onto his hands and sighed in frustration. He had known all along perhaps that he wouldn't of hacked it but he had wanted to try. He wanted to kill all those corporate bastards. To help MacAllan strike a blow against those who had ripped him away from his son.

"Fuck!" He pounded both fists on the dashboard. "Go ahead and laugh then! Laugh at this old man who couldn't do a fucking thing! I couldn't save my son! I couldn't stop them from slaughtering my friends! I couldn't fucking do a goddamn thing!"

"HEY!" Talea shouted, her voice thundering over his. "Don't give me that shit! Do you see me laughing at you? Huh? Do you? No, you shit-for-brains, because you never would've even got this far. You can believe that." She sighed deeply composing herself.

"I... you're right!" Charlie slapped his face with his hand. "I'm such a dipstick. How will I explain this to the missus?"

Talea flashed a wide grin. "Something tells me she knows."

Charlie sighed, "Yeah, you're probably right."

"I'm gonna go ahead and end the sim here. See you outside." Talea said.

The Hammond opened and Charlie adjusted his vision back to real world. He blinked his eyes a few times as he clamored out of the pod. He stretched and saw the two other Pilots who had accompanied Talea. They were both asleep. He frowned, did he preform that bad? There was another sound of a Hammond opening and Charlie saw Talea pop out of the pod she was using.

"Listen, I'm-" He began but Talea put a hand up.

"You want to help? Do what you did before. What you guys did on that colony was good, we can always use those skills." She looked over at Chung and Grissom still sleeping against one another.

"Anything I can do to help. I will!" Charlie promised. "I was very good at customizing my Titan back in the day."

"You don't say." Talea regarded him.

* * *

"This is a horrible horrible idea." Barker protested.

"Noted." Sarah said exasperated.

"You still remember the way, Barker?" MacAllan asked.

"Uh yeah, mostly... I think." Barker gulped at his flask.

"Do you really need to drink _that much_?" Sarah glared at Barker as he drank.

"Well if I'm gonna do this from memory, I might as well fly too." He twisted the cap back on his flask, ignoring Sarah completely.

"Oh no." Bish said standing in his way to the controls of the _Annapolis_. "No way! Mac, I thought he was just gonna plot the coordinates?"

"It'll be fine. Trust me." MacAllan smirked.

"You pulled me out of Angel City, the least I can do is fly you to where you want to go." Barker rubbed his mouth with the back of his arm.

"The least you can do is not crash the ship." Sarah corrected him.

"Fine, fine." Barker brushed past Bish and plopped down into the helm's chair. "Hey! This is actually pretty comfy, alright!"

"This isn't a pleasure cruise." Sarah scolded him. "Shouldn't you be taking this a little more seriously?"

"As serious as a pain in the ass." Barker winked.

Sarah just shook her head. "I'll be... any where else if you need me."

"We'll let you know when we address the crew." MacAllan told her.

Bish made a nod and gestured with his eyebrows to MacAllan to step away from Barker for a second. When they were a good distance from Barker, Bish looked furtively at Barker before addressing MacAllan.

"What's up with that guy, anyway?"

"Barker?"

"Yeah, him."

MacAllan looked back at Barker for a second and then frowned. "There was an accident. Back then, he was just shipping supplies to base Golden for the IMC. One day, the 'dog whistle' towers went down. It wasn't pretty."

"Jesus. How many made it out?"

"Not a lot. But the few that did, were _reassigned_ by the IMC."

"And never heard from again. I know how that story goes."

"Yeah. It never sat well with him. A lot of good people lost their lives that didn't need to."

"So that's why he's wallowing in whiskey."

"Can you blame him?"

"No, I guess not." Bish exhaled. "Alright, I'm gonna run some diagnostics. Keep an eye on him."

MacAllan chuckled. "Will do."

* * *

They told him not to touch his nose. So of course, he touched his nose. It stung and Vlocke winced at the pain. Why had his Titan just gone and dropped him like that? They weren't supposed to do that. Were they?

"Bloody 'ell that hurts!" Vlocke whined as the nurse applied alochol.

"Hold still." They said to him and gripped his face by the jaw.

Vlocke grumbled but still winced each time they cleaned the bruised area. He had seen his slightly crooked nose and was relieved to say, it didn't ruin his looks too much. The nurse tutted as they screwed back on the cap.

"Shouldn't drink while in your Titan," they said.

"Don't judge me." Vlocked pouted, crossing his arms.

"Well, it doesn't look too bad. A splint and some packing in the nostrils should do the trick. Some antibiotics, pain killers, and you'll be all set. Lucky you."

"Yeah, lucky me." Vlocke rolled his eyes.

It was a short procedure but an annoying and awkward one. Vlocke didn't like that the nurse kept poking and prodding and swabbing. Just get him drunk and crack it back in.

"Okay. I'll be back in a minute with your antibiotics."

"And painkillers! You said there would be painkillers!" Vlocke called after them.

He sighed and reclined back on the bed. Zeke's behavior still rattled around in his head and Vlocke tried to use it to distract himself from how stuffed his nose was.

"What the hell were you thinking, Zeke?" Vlocke mumbled to himself. He tucked his arms under his head waiting for the medicine to arrive.

"Hrn hrn hrn hrn," came a sinister laugh, muffled by the dividing curtain in the room.

Vlocke looked curiously in the direction of the new voice in the room. The curtain was quickly yanked back to reveal a man with his face covered in bandages, flanked on either side by two other Grunts.

"Fhats imm gwuys!" said the man with cast.

"So, you're the guy who keeps beating on our friend here." The larger of the two Grunts said while crunching his fist.

"What? Who? Me?" Vlocke said confused. "I don't even know who he is."

"Four days ago, you started a brawl with our unit: the 231st! Then you hit our friend again after we got back from Operation Fracture. If that wasn't enough, you attack him before we deployed to Angel City and steal his uniform!"

"Wait... Newgton! Is that you?" Vlocke's face beamed excitedly. "Oh man, what are you doing here?"

"He's here because of you!" the other person jumped in. He clutched her temple. "Our friend is in here because you have some sort of psycho-grudge against Grunts!"

"Eh?" Vlocke said taken aback.

"That's right!" The first man jumped back in. "You mess with one of the two-thirty-first, You mess with our whole platoon!"

Vlocke brought up his fingers and counted. How many were in a platoon, anyway? He couldn't remember. This was starting to be more like Du'ganh every passing day now.

"Wait wait... hold up." Vlocke held his hands up for them to wait. "Are you telling me, you think I have some sort of grudge against Grunts? Are you having a laugh?"

"I assure you," the large Grunt said moving menacingly closer to Vlocke's bedside. "That there is nothing funny about it."

"Hold him down Citus and I'll beat the disrespect out of him." The other Grunt grinned.

"Absolutely."

"Fuck it then!" Vlocke slid off the hospital bed. He raised his arms up ready for a brawl. If they wanted a fight, then he might might as well oblige them.

The three of them stood there for a bit sizing each other up ready to throw down. Vlocke flicked his eyes back and forth between the two of them waiting for them to make the first move. Noughton behind the other two folded his arms in impending triumph. Then there was a faint skittering. Like soft metallic footsteps. It grew in volume until the footsteps were in the room. There entering the room was a lone Marvin, hands outstretched with small plastic container. In the container, were Vlocke's pain pills and the Marvin delivered them straight to Vlocke.

Vlocke found the Marvin's large yellow smiley face to be charming and endearing. He took the pills and swallowed them.

"Thanks mate."

The Marvin waved with a happy robotic tune and then turned back the way it came. The four people in the room watched the robot worker as it left. Entranced, by its sudden and cheerful interruption. Vlocke turned back towards the Grunts.

"Hey, listen-" Vocke started but Citus punched him first.

* * *

Kathryn Bartusky scratched her leg. They had given her thin little metal pole to do it with too, for getting under the cast. While she was grateful for the advancements in medicine some things still just took time. Time she was determined to go as fast as possible. She lay in bed with a datapad reading some recent published piece the Frontier News Network.

There was a clattering from next door and the shelves shook as something heavy hit against the wall. Bartusky looked up from the news piece. There were grunts and shouts followed by more clattering.

"Not the face!" A familiar voice cried. Bartusky recognized that strained accent. That was that new guy they had brought on. _What was he doing here?_

The door blew open and an orderly was hauling Vlocke in by the collar. The orderly's face was bright red and Vlocke was still shouting. His face was bleeding everywhere and Ryn saw that his nose was crooked.

"I'll get you for this, ya gormless fucks!" He roared.

"Sit, goddamnit." The orderly demanded practically shoving Vlocke into a bed. "I don't know what your problems are. But this is a hospital ward. You will get better in here! And you will leave your problems at the door. Do you understand, _Pilot_?"

"Aye, Ma'am."

"Good." The orderly turned to Bartusky and asked in a pleasant voice, "And how are you today?"

"Well, thank you." Ryn answered. "Is everything alright?"

"Peachy." The orderly glared back at Vlocke before she left the room.

Bartusky watched as Vlocke spat blood into a pan. She turned back to her datapad and picked up a new story. It was about how the Colonist from Troy were contributing to the cause and how this was a positive sign for the future. Ryn was just about to read about how hydroponics were making new gains in growing vegetables with longer lifespans, when the door opened again.

This time, Talea entered the room. She looked excited. Her face landed on Bartusky's and softened.

"How you feeling?"

"Better ma'am." Ryn said.

"You getting that leg back anytime soon?"

Ryn wiggled her toes. "How's that for progress?"

"Damn fine, I'd say. We need you back out there. Vennick attached us to Foyer last op."

Bartusky chuckled, "I'm sorry. Stick me in a Titan, I can pilot. I promise."

"That's what I'm here for. We have a plan."

"Oh?"

Talea leaned on the bedpost, "Well, let's put you in a hammond first and see if you can still Pilot?"

"Would be nice to get out of here." Ryn smiled.

"Good. I'll send the nurse back in to clear you." Bartusky walked over to where Vlocke was pretending to ignore them both. "As for you... What do you have to say for yourself?"

Vlocke cupped his nose and shrugged. "Self defense?"

"Self defense."

"Uh, yeah, sort of. I dunno."

Talea shook her head. "Is it just your nose?"

"Oh yeah, I mean, it should heal in a couple of days or so." He mumbled.

"Let me look at it." Talea asked as she pulled back the bandage on his nose.

"It's nasty, I know." Vlocke said closing his eyes as Talea's hand rubbed her thumb on the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah..." She said facinated. Ryn watched as the Lieutenant's hand gripped the side of Vlocke's nose and cracked it back into place.

Vlocke screamed in pain and she howled with laughter as his commotion pushed Talea away. Talea shook the blood off her hand as Vlocke held his nose with both hands, wide eyed and bewildered. Ryn had seen her do this before with Grissom awhile back when he had dislocated his arm during some op.

"Ah! You bitch!" Vlocke said after he calmed down. "That fucking hurt, Ma'am!"

Talea just chuckled, "You'll get over it."

The nurse and orderly returned to the room both perturbed. Ryn saw Talea just turn her head to them, "I'd like to have my Pilots back now."

They were back at the drop bay a little later. The usual buzz and noise of drop bay was missing and the room was replaced with a quieter more empty feeling. Ryn saw maintenance personal running about. Talea pulled them over to the far side of the bay, where a lone Titan was being worked on by someone Bartusky had never seen before.

"Charlie!" Talea yelled up to him.

"Wait, me mate Charlie?" Vlocke asked.

"That's right mate. You look just as shite as ever." Charlie said as he clambered down the Atlas Titan he was working on.

"Sod off." Vlocke clasped Charlie's hand as he strode up to the group. "Whatcha doin' here, huh?"

"Your boss here was kind enough to give me a job."

"Yeah? Wot's that?"

"Retrofittin' these here Titans."

"That's right." Talea cut in. "Charlie here is gonna be our personal mechanic."

"Nice." Vlocke remarked.

"So who's Titan is this then?" Bartusky asked.

"Yours." Charlie replied.

"Huh?" She asked.

"Tell her, Charlie, it was your idea." Talea walked over next to him so that Talea was facing Ryn.

"Well," he began, "I heard about your bum leg and all. And I though to myself, being in a Titan, is what Pilots do." Talea made the hand motion to hurry up. "R-right, anyways, what I did was add a mount to the hatch on the top that swivels around like, say if you'd like to add a spitfire on top. Here, I'll show you! Step forward, it's your Titan after all."

Bartusky walked forward with Charlie and the Atlas Titan bent down and offered it's hand to Ryn. She and Charlie stepped on and the Titan lifted them up to the cockpit. Charlie pointed inside, showing her all the modifications he had made.

"See here, once the hatch is popped. There's rungs for someone to perch on. But also they work if the person inside, wants to clamber up."

"Well that's neat, I suppose."

"No, you're not gettin' it." Charlie slapped the top of hand with the other. "It's for two people. Not super comfy but ya know, it works."

"How safe is it?"

"Safe enough I suppose." Charlie scratched his chin. "You'll have to rotate your body if you rotate the gun and reposition yourself." He slapped the rungs with his hands and made a twist motion.

"I dunno if I'm up to running yet. What if I have to eject?"

"There's an auto-eject feature in there. Dust off the 'ole manual to find it but you can do it. Otherwise its the same as ever."

Bartusky hopped off the Titan's hand and into the cockpit. She looked around reacquainting herself with how the cockpit worked and felt to her. Then she felt the rungs, curled her hands around them and pulled checking their weight and sturdiness, how the pull felt to her arms and everything. Charlie gripped the outside of the cockpit and pulled himself partly into the cockpit.

"Between you me." He said hushed. "I have an idea of where were going and the added top gun is gonna come in handy. But also, your commander there, told me about how you like to keep them all safe. And what's safer than under a Titan's body shield?" Charlie chuckled and gave a small nod before he backed out and knocked on the outside.

Bartusky lightly chuckled and leaned her head back. The lieutenant certainly knew her people. She leaned back forward and extended her hand to Charlie.

"Thank you."

"Oh!" he said chuffed, "Thank you, miss. Well, I better get back to my wife. Good luck down there!"

"Thanks!" Ryn called out to him.

It had only been a couple of days and she was itching to get back to the fight. She frowned to herself, itching was something she didn't want to do again for a while.

* * *

"Get some sleep." Venick told her.

Talea rubbed her eye and kept one forced opened as she yawned. "I'm fine."

She had called him to meet her at the cantina. Talea told him about Charlie, and his idea for a coaxial gun on a Titan, about Vlocke's nose and the spat with the Grunts. It was like old times. She had to admit that taking out that carrier and really reinvigorated her. He had listened to her almost in silence, except for a few laughs which sounded like coughs.

"No you're not." Venick pointed out. "There's a ship wide briefing at oh-seven-hundred. I'm glad to see your chatty and working with the colonists."

"So are we going to this place that doesn't exist?" She said pushing past her exhaustion.

"Correct. There will be dragons there."

"Huh?"

"Back in antiquity." Venick began.

"Oh boy, here we go." Talea .

"Back in antiquity," he started again, "when map makers didn't know what was there they would draw a dragon in its place or some other type of monster."

"I really... don't care." Talea said sleepily.

"Go to sleep then. Trust me, we'll wake you when we get there."

Talea got up and left to go back to her bunk. When she got back to her room she shed just enough of her equipment to be comfortable and pulled herself out of the top portion and just slammed onto the bunk. She moaned as she snuggled up to her pillow and fell fast asleep.

* * *

Badlands System

1st Militia Fleet orbiting IMC Black site "Boneyard"

2212, March 10th 0529h

* * *

She awoke that morning to a knock at her door and Talea turned over on her side and groaned. It continued and began to get louder. She sat up, clutching her head from the giant migraine.

"Ugh! Who is it?"

The knocking just kept going.

"I'm coming damnit!" Talea shouted tugging the sleeves of her Pilot suit back on. She hit the controls on the door, it slide open to reveal Venick. She sighed, "Didn't I just see you? What time is it?"

"Five-thirty." He stated and offered her a cup of coffee. "Sleep well?"

"I crashed."

"Figured as much. Glad to see you can still get up then. Put a drop of stims in it for ya."

"Mm." She said sipping the coffee.

"Here, let's go inside." he offered.

Talea turned around and kicked some of her armor and equipment out of the walk way. She sat back on the bed and Venick grabbed a chair. He punched a couple buttons on his wristcom and it pulled up a holographic image warped into place. It was a 3D readout of an ancient IMC base from what she could tell.

"What is this?"

"The unexplored part of the map." Venick grinned.

"There be dragons." She said back.

"Here be dragons."

"It looks as old as you are." Talea said leaning closer to try and get a better look at it.

"You're actually not too far off. It's about forty years old." He laughed and punched up the display to encompass the large, leaning tower.

"What's that?" She asked.

"Exactly. What is that do you think?"

"You don't know?"

He shook his head, "When I got the schematics from Bish, who got them from General MacAllan, who got them from Barker, there was a need to know basis of details. Just the usual 'plan ahead' things they always say."

"Wait. Are you saying, we know nothing about where we're going?"

"Mhm. There might even actually be dragons for all we know."

Now Talea just shook her head. "Maybe even horses for old men like you to joust on."

"Thanks but I prefer riding in a twenty foot tall Titan." Venick got up from the chair and turned off the wristcom holo. "Remember there's the brief at seven. Get your team ready and at the Titan bay at oh-six-thirty."

Talea simply nodded. "Thanks for the coffee."

"Sure, anytime." Venick stopped at the door, "Oh and I'll only say this once. Good job down there at the shipyard."

The door closed. Talea sat there in silence and blinked. Then she laughed and fell back on the bed, still trying to hold the coffee up right.

"Was that his way of saying sorry?" She wondered aloud, resting the cup on her stomach clasping it with both hands.

* * *

Vlocke wiggled his little finger in his ear picking out some wax as all Pilots gathered for the briefing. It occurred to him that since they had brought MacAllan aboard, they've been doing bigger and bigger assemblies.

"Crew, with the _IMS Sentinel_ out of commission we have a window of opportunity to make a jump to a place that does not officially exist." MacAllan's voice rung through out the room. "Barker, however, can get us there. Go ahead Barker."

MacAllan stood off to the side as Barker came up to the mic. Barker squinted into the crowd. "Well," He began, "First I'd like to say, this is a horrible horrible idea."

Vlocke saw Sarah behind Barker shake her head in disbelief. "Not again."

Barker continued with his line. Vlocke noticed that he didn't have a flask on hand this time around. "You want to go to the abandoned IMC base where I used to work. Hell I'm not dumb enough to go down there myself but I did fly ya there." He sagged a little as if he was going to fall asleep but he snapped out of it.

"Titan Pilots! Once you're on the ground, look up and you will see a massive tower. It was, was, designed to keep out the wild life. Past tense. I'd say don't feed the animals but you might not have a choice. Cuz there a hella lot bigger than you are. Mac, I'll be at the bar if you need me."

Barker passed on the mic and walked out of the hanger. MacAllan carried on as if Barker's display was nothing unusual. Though at this point, Vlocke was sure it was.

"Pilots, the tower technology is still used at the air base which protects Demeter. If we can learn how it works, we can use it against the IMC. Suit up and get on the dropships in twenty. Dismissed."

"Alright team, let's get a move on." Talea marshaled her squad.

Vlocke followed the rest of the squad to the ready room. It was more like a treasure trove than any actual ready room Vlocke had seen before. There were chests with guns leaned against them. Belts of ammunition were strewn over lockers. The whole thing looked like some arms bazaar at Smuggler's Cove. Vlocke half expected the peddlers themselves to be here, trying to up sell the equipment to them.

"Looks like the last of the Kodai shipments came in." A Pilot stated.

"Good thing too." Another answered.

Vlocke opened up a chest, inside it was a helmet buried in bullets. Vlocke pulled out the helmet. It was an assault class helmet, with the visor splitting into two directions latterally. The current helmet he had now was open facing and he remembered multiple times getting grit in his face. He turned the helmet around and put it on. It was nice, the visor was a little restrictive, but over all he liked having his face covered. That was a priority now.

Vlocke pulled the helmet back off and felt his nose. It was still sensitive since Talea had snapped it back into place. He plied down the bandage again to make sure it was still firmly on. Chung punched him on the arm.

"Don't worry your nose looks good man."

Vlocke gritted his teeth. "That's not what I'm worried about."

"Whatever, man. Check this out!" Chung hefted up a Kraber-Ap rifle. "Whatever that Barker guy was goin' on about I bet it can't resist the size of this, ya know?"

"Maybe if it fired archer missiles too, mate?"

"Couldn't hurt I guess." Chung hefted the rifle up to his chin and checked the scope. "Wow, and the scopes good. Gotta hand it to those Kodai suits, they really came through for us this time."

"What d'ya mean?" Vlocke put the helmet down and opened up the chamber of his Wingman.

"I was checkin' in with Ryn, now that she's out of medical. There was a piece she read about how Kodai and the bosses up stairs made a deal in order to get more supplies. Apparently this MacAllan guy has some real pull. The thing they got in return was apparently setting up mining operations on Concord."

"Listen," Vlocke said as he slipped the last magnum round into his Wingman, "that sounds really boring."

"What happens when you get waylaid, my friend."

"Yeah, well, I was in the hospital for twenty minutes, got drugs, got in a fight, then got my nose snapped back into place. In n' out." He made a gesture with his thumb and whisk noise.

Chung laughed, "You be sure to slow down alright. Just cause you have to be fast as a Pilot, doesn't mean fast in life too."

Talea interrupted the two of them, "If you two are done flirting, we have a job to do."

"Yea boss." Chung replied. "Hey! What's the terrain like down there?"

She smirked, "All sand and bones."

"Aw shit." Chung swore and began to unpick all the green ghillie netting off his armor. "Could've told me before I had kitted up! Wait, bones!?" he shouted after her. Talea's smirk turned to a laugh as she nodded.

* * *

"All dropships- prepare for the last jump in five, four, three, two, one, mark!" Barker's voice rambled in Talea's ear. She held up her hand for the whole team to see, counting down the seconds. This Barker guy really was something. He even forgets when his mic is on too apparently. "You know, Mac, the tower hasn't worked in twenty years! You sure about this?"

"They still use these towers at the airbase that guards Demeter! We need a way to shut 'em down." She heard MacAllan say back over Barker's channel.

"Pilots!" This time, MacAllan said over the Pilot frequency. Take the hardpoints, so Bish can analyze the tower. Ready up!"

"You heard him, let's go!" Talea shouted to her squad. Chung and Grissom blew past her followed closely by Bartusky. Vlocke just stopped and pointed out the bay door.

"The fuck is that?" He said with a lot of disbelief. Talea looked back out the door and she gasped herself. There in the distance was a huge dinosaur like creature that dwarfed anything she'd ever seen before. The thing towered above even the closest jagged rocks on it's four skyscraper-long legs as it slowly lumbered along its path.

"Yeah, definitely. FUCK THIS PLANET!" Vlocke exclaimed and sat back down.

Talea walked up to him and smacked him on the helmet. "What's gottin' into you?"

"Do YOU see the size of that- thing!? I'm not goin' down there!" He desperately pointed his arm in it's direction again as if pointing more at it was going to convince her.

"Yeah I saw it. And?"

"Wh- what- what you mean: and? It's HUGE!" He stammered still continuing to use his arm to gesticulate.

Talea grabbed his arm by the wrist, "Relax, okay?"

"But!"

"Breathe." She said slowly.

Vlocke groaned.

"Now listen. You have three seconds to get off this dropship before I throw you out."

"Yeah, hurry up asshole. We're low on fuel as it is!" The dropship pilot scolded him.

"I'm having a moment! Do you mind?" Vlocke snapped at the lady.

"Three... two..."

"Alright! Alright! FINE!" He got up to the ramp and took a deep breath. "Actually-"

She pushed him and jumped out herself, giving a little wave to the pilots as she left. A few seconds of freefall and then she boosted on her 'kit' before touching down on the warm sand. A grunt approached her and gave her a salute.

"Welcome to hell!"

"Certainly looks like it." She replied.

"Keep your guard up, these damn flyers have been picking off my men..."

At that moment a flyer came down a scooped up a Grunt. The squad surrounding him quickly dropped and opened fire on the creature.

"Gunny!" The man screamed before the monster released him and fell back into the sand.

"Like I said," the Gunnery Sergeant breathed a sigh of relief. "Move out!"

Vlocke fell in behind her. "Fucking hate this place."

"Noted."

* * *

Chung gripped the large spinal column of some huge ancient dead thing. The heat was coming at him in waves as it blew off the rocks in the distance. There were three complexes he could see. From what he could tell from the break patterns and wear, something bad had happened here. Almost like everyone had just got up and left one day. Which considering that tower no longer worked, that was probably exactly what happened.

"Chung." Talea radioed.

"Yeah boss."

"See anything?"

He scanned the horizon again. Besides the worrying amount of flyers everywhere, especially around the tower itself, there was nothing militarily to see.

"Uh, lizards? Lizards everywhere."

"Seems right." She said back and clicked off the channel.

This op was dead, gonna be a long hour or two. Chung sighted a flyer and fired the Kraber. He pulled back on the bolt as the creature tore in half. The others that had congregated around it squawked and flew into the air.

"Yo Grissom." He called out.

"Yeah!"

"You think these things might taste good?"

"Anything'll taste good if ya fry it."

"I believe that." Chung switched off.

* * *

The Gunnery Sergeant and his men walked into the large facility. It was a huge open room that had a second level. Talea noted they were under the huge tower now. She checked back on Vlocke who was still looking jumpy. He kept looking up at the ceiling for those flying things.

"Sergeant, get someone on that console. Let's not sit around longer than we have to." Talea said both for themselves and for Vlocke.

"Yes, Ma'am! Roberts, Ahkada, hustle up."

"Aye aye Gunny!" The two Grunts hustled forward up the stairs onto the console.

There was clank of footsteps from a stairwell just beyond the stairs. She heard Vlocke gasp and snap towards the sounds. Talea smacked a discerning hand on his chest.

"Did you overstim today or something?"

"I- I don't like this place." He was breathing hard even through the helmet.

"You said that."

She turned back to the Gunny and his men. "How we doing Sergeant?"

"This console is in bad shape!" He yelled back from the balcony. "We're gonna have to do a bypass to get it working again."

"Under-" Vlocke's shotgun went off cutting Talea's sentence short. The report was loud inside the huge room and the reverberation echoed. When it had died down, a couple Grunts started laughing. One of them came back up the stairs holding the head of a rusted Marvin.

"Hey, he killed one of the monsters!" he chucked the head over to his buddy. Who kicked it towards the balcony.

"See Gun, the Pilot got the spooky monster."

The Gunnery Sergeant fumed, "Just get the hell back in formation!" he gave her a worried look.

Talea saw that Vlocke was taking deep breaths. She grabbed him by the shoulder and whirled him around. He offered no resistance and looked away.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Talea gripped him under his chest plate, knocking their helmets together.

"I- I don't like heights." He offered weakly.

Talea was about to shove him to the ground when the radio flared.

"This is Commander Briggs, Buffalo and Eagle squads have gone dark. All Pilots around grid Charlie Three, check it out."

"That's where Foyer's been deployed." Talea stated aloud. She released Vlocke, who stumbled back a little. "Foyer, come in."

"Lieutenant." Came the stiff reply.

"What's this about squads going dark?"

"We're on it. Probably just interference from the sandstorm or a bad transmitter."

"Maintain direct contact, understood?" Equipment was bad but even a poor transmitter should still be able to function within such a small area. "Grissom, go with him. Chung, get on overwatch and keep an eye out."

"Yes, Ma'am." Grissom drawled.

The Gunnery Sergeant popped onto the balcony, "We got it running, getting direct feed from the tower."

"This is Rabbit One, tower download is a go. I repeat, tower download is a go." Talea relayed to Commander Bish.

"Copy that, receiving now." Bish confirmed.

* * *

"Chung, do you have sight on Otter Squad?"

"Uh, yeah." Chung tightened up the scope on Foyer's squad as they moved inside the landing pad building. "You don't think the tower is giving off any jamming signals, do you?"

"It's possible, I guess." Talea answered. "We'll know soon enough."

"Right." Chung switched off. After the last of Foyer's squad went in he swept the perimeter. He lingered on a broken down Paladin tank, rusted and burnt. Something really bad happened here. As usual, command wasn't telling them much but he also reckoned that this place was pretty new for everyone.

Grissom did a wall run between the buildings of the valley and hooked onto a zipline completing the rest of the journey. Chung watched as he walked up to Foyer. The other Lieutenant assigned to Yon. The four Pilots broke into two teams and when inside the landing pad.

"This is Foyer, um, Otter one. I have three bodies. Looks like part of eagle squad. Multiple stab wounds to the upper torso. Dermitt, check that corner. What is that?"

"Heyyy it's a boot."

"Where's the owner?" Foyer asked.

Chung frowned as he zoomed back out and swept the entrances. Something that was strong enough to pull a person out of their boots. That was never a good sign. He held onto to each doorway and entrance, examining it throughly. So far he wasn't seeing anything out of the ordinary. What he hoped to see was tracks of some kind, scratches, signs of life.

"Hey, where's Yon?" Dermitt asked interupting Chung's train of thought.

 _Uh oh._ Chung repositioned his scope back on the entrance that Grissom and Yon had taken into the facility.

"Uh," Foyer said, "she was right there a second ago. Umm is anyone seeing Yon outside? Grissom, you copy?"

Chung swapped on the radio, "Negative, no one's been in or out, since you went in. Grissom, you in there man? Come in."

Nothing. Chung was getting worried. Grissom's equipment was working, there had to be something down there fucking with their coms.

Foyer swore, "Shit, um okay. We're gonna loop back. Something must be in here. Let's uh, regroup with some more guys." His voice was shaking.

"Yeah." Chung readjusted his hold on the Kraber, ready to pull the trigger on anything that wasn't friendly.

There was the sounds of foot steps for a minute. Foyer and Dermitt walked quietly the only sound was their breath over the mike. After a few minutes of silence of their backtracking through the derelict facility, they stopped.

"Hey Yon, what're you doing there? Yon? Yon!" Foyer demanded.

There was no sound and Chung strained his ears trying to get any details over his radio.

Dermitt's channel flared and then cut, followed by a loud crack of a pistol shot. Chung quickly broadcasted "Shots fired in sector Charlie Three. No eyes on friendlies."

"Is that you... sniper?" A cold and raspy voice Chung had never heard before asked. He was using Grissom's mike. "I – dreamed. They told me I couldn't."

As he finished broadcasting, eight Goblins dropped in right over the landing pad. Chung swung his gun up and fired a round sending two enemy Grunts falling from their zip line. Immediately, two rounds smacked into the bone next to him. He started and then rolled as two more snapped behind him. As he retook a position crouched, he saw an IMC Pilot fizz in and out before disappearing again.

"This is Rabbit Four," Chung continued, "there's a cloaked IMC Sniper headed south up the trail towards the tower. Eight dropships have just warped in. Talea, he was using Grissom's mike."

"I heard. That was QSF."

* * *

Sarah gripped her hand over her mic to muffle her voice, "Mac, how the hell did the IMC know we were gonna be here?"

MacAllan gripped his chin in thought. Sarah saw that MacAllan's normally calm and sure face looked troubled. "He knows. I've should've realized when the _Sentinel_ showed up at Angel City. Graves and I ran war games fifteen years ago. How'd we fight if we were on the other side but I didn't think he'd remember my way of fighting..."

"Great," Bish sighed, "Who won the most?"

MacAllan shook his head ruefully, "It was even. This war's gonna be the tiebreaker."

A silence came over the bridge. Sarah and Bish exchanged looks as MacAllan sat contemplating. After a moment or two, Sarah interrupted the silence.

"So Mac, what's his move then?"

"Well," MacAllan looked up at her, "we have to assume he wants to the scuttle the base. So we have to pull as much data about these towers as we can before he does. That also means, we'll have to rethink our strategy for the airbase and Demeter."

"We'll deal with that when we get there. Let's first get this data before the IMC destroy it." Sarah turned her attention back to the command board.

"Good idea. Bish where are we on that download?" Mac asked.

"Not sure. The data's sporadic. It must be interference from the..." Bish trailed off and began to intensely pound away on his keyboard.

* * *

"All callsigns, this is Commander Briggs, the IMC are trying to scuttle the base. Hold them back from destroying the facility while Bish pulls data on the tower."

"This is Rabbit, confirmed Command." Talea relayed to Sarah. "Bartusky, deploy your Titan and bring it to my position! Chung, you too, get here on the double."

"He's dead!" Bartusky shouted distraught. "Grissom's dead!"

Talea looked back at Vlocke huddled over by a wall. It was pathetic seeing a Pilot act this way. She was beginning to think that Venick might have been right about him after all. What a waste that would be if she had to replace him. She had hoped he'd be like Frisko at least, cocky and always up for a challenge. Well, he was until now.

"Get up." Talea ordered Vlocke.

Vlocke slowly got up to his feet. "Talea, I..."

"Stow it. Grissom's dead and I need my team together."

Vlocke swallowed hard. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good. You saw the gun on top of Bartusky's Titan, get to it."

* * *

Ryn called in her new Titan. She had decided on the name Savior for this one. Already that name was leaving a bad taste in her mouth.

 _Savior_.

They had already failed to save Grissom and that man had made it seem like he knew Chung. Was he the ghost of that sniper that killed Frisko? Chung had sworn to her he had killed him. If he wasn't dead it was a lie then. The shot hadn't killed him.

"Chung." Ryn's voice was thick with anger.

"I know, what you're thinking." He replied.

"You told me."

"Yeah, I know."

"If he was dead. Then why would call for you like that?"

"I don't know!" Chung said frustrated.

There was a crackle as Grissom's mike registered again on the channel. Wind bristled against the mike with a shrill howl. She fumed, rage boiling inside her. "The first man..." The raspy voice began, "was asleep. And so I devoured him."

Bartusky stopped her Titan in its tracks and listened with her breath caught in her throat. The world shrank away until it was just the cold and raspy voice in her ear and the shrill sound of the wind.

"But the second man," the voice trailed off into concentration. The mike was still broadcasting but the speaker had gone silent. "He was waiting."

There was report and in the back ground there was small roar and the sounds of rocks breaking and the mike stopped.

"Take that asshole!" Chung said cockily.

Suddenly, Bartusky's screen scrambled and wobbled as some unseen burst shocked her systems. Her Titan sunk over, disabled by the sudden burst of electronic interference. Bartusky shocked by the unexpected event, panicked and began trying to move her Titan. Whatever had happened had overloaded her systems. She was stuck.

No lights. No movement. No communication.

Just the howl of the wind outside her Titan. A whole world of unseeable sound just nine inches of armor away. Stuck in the middle of unknown battlefield alone.

* * *

"Bish what the hell was that?" Sarah pulled the headset around her neck.

"Sorry, I should of said something before I tested it but there was still power to the tower and I had to see if it still worked."

"Well it works Bish." Sarah scolded him, "I've lost contact down there because of that stunt."

"I know," he protested, "but seeing how it works, helps me figure out how to break it."

Sarah folded her arms. "That's not good enough Bish!"

"I have a theory but I need more time to really see if it works."

"Fine." She relented. "Just give me some warning first."

"I bet it messed with the IMC too." Bish mumbled to himself. Already his attention was on the new problem to toy with and figure out. "Yeah, we can use that to our advantage too."

His fingers began to blur across the keyboard again. Sarah lingered on him for a second before she shook her head and slipped the head set back on.

"All callsigns, be advised, Bish has gained access to the tower. He's using the pulses to figure out how the tower works. Keep those hardpoints under control."

* * *

The ricochet almost stuck him.

He could hear the bullet whiz by his helmet. It was high, somewhere from his 10 or 11 o'clock. The snaps were about the same as before. In all likelihood, he was being stalked by the same sniper, who was using Grissom's mike. The shots were close too, this guy was firing from far away and his shots were landing tight. It was a joy and horror to behold.

On top of that, whatever happened fried his communication too. He'd have to reset the device to get it going again. He pulled off his helmet and found the battery pack underneath and pulled the cord out and waited two seconds and then plugged it back in.

A quick check of his spot showed that the only way out was up. The small, shaded crevasse he had holed himself up in was great before but now he was sorely regretting it. Chung ran through his options. He could hole up here and wait, which is what any good sniper would do. Though that meant possibly being left behind when they evac'ed out. That wasn't an option. He could cloak. That seemed good but if this guy was as decent as his shots were, he'd probably factor that in already. Maybe though, if he could time it with the pulses, he might just get lucky.

He took a deep breath to calm himself and put his helmet back on. Thinking too much about it was likely to make him panic. Once he'd sufficiently calmed himself after a few breathes. He assessed the area again. He quickly flipped out his data knife. He had a stupid idea but it might work. If he could attract enough of those flyers to him, they might cover him enough. It was better than doing nothing.

Chung cloaked and slowly raised himself up over the side of the cover. He quickly scanned looking for the best spot or any muzzle flashes. When he spotted none, he quickly glanced around for the flyers. There was a huge cluster still on the spine. After a second he lowered himself back down. By his estimates, he had to clear twenty feet of rock, land on the spine. Then pray that the flyers would give him enough cover for him to escape to something more flexible.

Searching his kit for a moment, he retrieved his grenades. Checking the ground above him, he saw sand sweeping over the sides. The grenades might kick up enough sand to give him some more cover. Anything to help his chances at this moment.

"Talea," Chung said, "copy?"

There was pause and then some background chatter and gunfire. "Go ahead."

"I've been pinned down but I'm gonna unpin myself."

"Ah damnit." She returned fire and there was noise as she moved to different cover. "Say again?"

"I've been pinned but I'm going to unpin myself." He restated calmly.

"Got it!" The sound of explosions and small arms fire filled the channel and Talea cut.

It sounded hairy there. If he got out of here, he would do what he could to help. He leaned back and the sidewinder bumped against the wall. _Of course! Micro-missiles._ He tapped his fingers against his head.

He lay the Kraber against the rock wall. No need for the gun to act like a flagpole giving his position away. Chung gripped the sidewinder in one hand and he readied a grenade.

 _Three. Two. One._

"All Pilots, another pulse in bound!" Commander Briggs warned before being short as the pulse detonated.

"Ah, fuck!" Chung swore as the grenade didn't arc the way he wanted as his helmet glitched and viewer scrambled. The cloak wouldn't activate due to the pulse tower.

He jammed his finger on his wristcom trying to make it go. "Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on!" Chung frustratedly kept pounding the button.

The grenade went off and he saw the small temporary plume shoot up.

"Oh fuck it!" He jumped out instead, immediately bullets whizzed by his head with near impossible precision. His finger wrapped around the sidewinder's trigger letting a series of micro-missiles fly out in front of him.

The missiles scattered a few he hit, flying perfectly in the way of his purser's bullets. Chung saw outlets of blood spit out of the creatures as his body picked up momentum down the side of the rock wall. His cloak activated finally but because of the input lag due to the pulse, it turned on and off over and over again.

To make matters worse, the creatures he had hit were coming back for him. He fired the last of the sidewinder striking the first animals face causing it smash into him. The impact sent sidewinder flying from his grip but Chung latched on to the creature to try and shield himself. It was quick thinking on his part and several more bullets struck the creature, causing it to screech and writhe in pain.

It struggled violently to break free of him before flapping its wings and shooting off into the air. The flyer's exit knocked Chung sideways turning his slide into a uncontrollable roll. His helmet's visor cracked as he hit several rocks. Though somehow he thankfully didn't bite his tongue.

Then he was free falling, over the side of the rocks on to the spinal column he only managed to catch a quick glimpse of, before his ribs hit the side of the bones. He couldn't catch his breath as he fell the last few feet into the sand. Thank go his outfit came with insulation and padding, mostly for bullets, but in this instance that saved his life.

"Ugh, shit that hurt." Chung grumbled to himself. "Talea come in."

There was nothing but silence over the radio. He remembered there was another pulse just before he went over. His head was still spinning from the fall. Chung shook his head and internally promised never to do something so stupid again. The visor was completely shattered on his helmet as he peeled it off. Dented and scratched it looked completely busted.

He was lucky, that was all he got. For a sniper he was pretty reckless. Chung was sure of that much. He shook the extra pieces of plexiglass from the bottom of the helmet and reconnected the cable. The radio crackled and flared.

"Shit." Chung put the helmet back on his head. Suddenly, he was engulfed in shadow and giant talons gripped him by the arms and soon the ground was quickly stretching away beneath him.

* * *

There was a pounding on the hull. Ryn started and looked around frantically. The pounding came again. It looked like it was coming from the top of the hatch. Bartusky pulled out her pistol. There was a muffled voice yelling at her but she couldn't make out the words. This time the pounding was harder.

Slowly she got up from the seat and firmly grasped the latch. When the pounding started again, she thrust open the latch and burst up with her pistol drawn. There was no one on top but a clattering came from behind her. Bartusky spun about and saw Vlocke flat on his back in the sand with his legs jutted up.

"Are you fucking crazy!" Vlocke yelled at her scrambling up to his feet.

"Hurry up then. Took your time." She said coldly.

Vlocke fumed and brushed the sand from his uniform. Ryn sat back down in her seat and he jumped back on the Titan again. As he dropped into the hatch it shook the sand from his boots and into her hair.

"Watch it!" She snapped and brushed the sand out of her hair.

"Sorry." Vlocke said flippantly.

"Just face the rear and keep the pilots off us." She unclicked the Spitfire and passed it up to him. It banged against the hull and the drum got stuck on the lip of the hatch but he finally managed to get it pulled up.

"Okay, let's go then." He said.

"I have to get the systems online." Ryn said, flipping through circuit boxes. Trying to find the one that reestablished the reactor.

"What, we're targets sitting here!" Vlocke cried.

"Don't you think I know that?" She shot back. "Just be quiet so I can concentrate okay."

Bartusky went back to opening up the boxes. She found the one labeled _PWR_ and took her data-knife to unscrew it. The box broke free and she slid out the circuit board and then slid it back into place.

"There she is."

The Titan whirred and Bartusky flipped the switches just in front of the cockpit viewing port. The screen crackled on and all systems looked green. She left the power box open just in case of another EMP like that.

 _Titan online. Welcome back Pilot._ The onboard AI greeted her.

"Alright. Good, good, good. Let's go, let's go!" Vlocke said excitedly, patting one hand against the Atlas' hull.

"Talea," Ryn tried to reach the Lieutenant, "this is Bartusky. I've got Vlocke and we're G to G."

"Yeah! Let's get back under that tower where there ain't no flyers!"

"We're not going to the tower." Ryn declared.

"What!" Vlocke exclaimed.

"We're going after that sniper!"

"No! No! That's a bad idea!" he protested. "I'm very vulnerable up here!"

"You can get out then."

"Tits!" Vlocke growled. "Fine, I'll stay with you."

"Let's go then."

* * *

"Sergeant, what's the ETA on that download?" Talea demanded.

"If command would stop with the pulses, we'd be done by now!" He shouted back.

Talea slapped another magazine into her Carbine. This op went from shitstorm to all QSF right quick. Between the sandstorm, the monsters, the IMC, and the pulses; it was hard to choose what was the worse part of this day so far. The only real solace was that the fact the IMC had to contend with it too.

The room suddenly received a huge burst of receiving fire. Rockets and bullets shredded the interior. It was so intense that it shook Talea to the floor. That was it, this area was lost. Whatever data they had they would have to use.

 _There making another attack!_ A grunt screamed out.

"Who's in charge?" Talea shouted over the wail of gunfire.

"You are, ma'am!" The gunnery sergeant replied.

"Shit, okay. We're pulling out!" Talea ordered. "Prowler, this is Rabbit, the AO is lost! Requesting immediate evac, over?"

"Understood, Rabbit. All callsigns make for the evac and stay away from any interiors. The IMC are going to scuttle the base any minute!" Sarah told all Militia units.

"Squad get back here on the double! Chung? Barutsky? Vlocke? Does anyone read?"

There was nothing but static on the squad's frequency.

"I say again, does anyone read."

"... here! We're coming in." Vlocke's voice broke the static, though just barely. "We – Chung – in bad shape, over."

"Understood. I'm sending the coordinates for the evac!" Talea punched in the numbers for the evac point and uploaded it to Vlocke.

"Got 'em. We'll be there." Vlocke acknowledged.

There was a huge shriek and Talea whipped her head around as several flyers latched themselves onto one of the evacuating Crow dropships. The gunner desperately tried to shoot off some of the oncoming creatures to no avail. They haphazardly tore through the hull trying to get to the meal within; sparking a fire. Suddenly destabilized, the dropship careened over a sand dune out beyond Talea's vision. She now understood how that spine in the middle of the base was picked clean.

"This is Rabbit One, please tell me we have exfil soon." Talea kept her eyes peeled through the whirling sand for any ominiously large objects.

"This is Desperado One One. Hang tight rabbit." A familiar voice drawled.

"Blackjack?" Talea said remembering the code name from the Colony op.

"Correct," the dropship pilot confirmed, "Though mostly, I go by Novak to those who wear the right colors. Let's get your team outta this hell hole."

"Abso-fucking-lutely!" Talea broke into a smile.

"Get your team together on the PZ. It's hot so I don't wanna sit for too long."

"Did you copy that, team?"

"Yeah!" Vlocke radioed. "We heard ya! We're here okay?"

Out of the swirling sandstorm Bartusky's Titan appeared. The sound of the Spitfire echoing louder and louder as they came near. Talea made out a person clutched in the Titan's arms, slowly it began to look like Chung.

A flyer swooped close by and Talea ducked behind a wrecked piece of debris for cover. This Boneyard was becoming more and more like a nightmare every passing second. She really didn't relish the idea of possibly being stuck here either.

"We're here, let's go Desperado." Talea cried.

"Copy that. When we get back, you're buying drinks." Novak chuckled.

"Promises." She said.

Bartusky's Titan arrived next to her. The sound of Vlocke on the Spitfire was loud as he sent long streams of lead up into the sky knocking out every other flyer he could hit. From here, Talea saw that Chung was practically without armor with blood all over him. Whatever had got him, had got him bad. She saw his stomach rise and fall and was glad he was still breathing. Losing Grissom was enough for today.

Novak's bird warpped in and she quickly grabbed Chung off of the Ryn's Titan and hauled him inside the Crow. Vlocke was still firing as Bartusky exited next and hopped in next Talea and Chung. Vlocke then quickly pulled himself out, swearing as many words as he could string together as he scrambled off the Titan and into the relative safety of the Crow.

"We're in, we're in! Let's go now!" Talea shouted.

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Novak pushed the dropship into warp and out of the hot zone.

* * *

MacAllan leaned on the command board watching the last of the Militia forces warp out of the Boneyard. "Bish tell me it wasn't a complete loss..."

There were still huge amounts of data to go for Bish to go through. Hopefully somewhere in that huge pile of code, there was something that could help neutralize the tower. He didn't want to think about having to send more resources to the airbase then he had to.

"Well... we got a lot of data, but its gonna take a while to sift through it all." Bish sighed, reclining in his chair.

"We'll make it work, Bish. We always do..."

They had reached the crucial part of the whole war. If they faltered now, it could end all of what they worked for. Not getting all the data was certainly a setback but it was one that he was confident that they would overcome. MacAllan knew they had to. For the long road to Demeter would soon come to an end.

* * *

 _Hey everyone, I'm pleased to say this story has gotten more than a thousand views. It's not much compared to some of the bigger stories out there but it's a good amount to me. So, really, thank you all for reading this. So much research and time and effort goes into this to make it as accurate to the events as I can. Also shout out to the guy who's been updating the wiki, you're a hero whoever you are!_

 _Any way, thank you again for reading this far. I say that a lot but I mean it. You guys are really fantastic. :D_


	12. Chapter 6B: Stalkers In The Badlands

Freeport System

IMS Colossus

2212, March 10th 0312h

The Goblin came out of warp slowly and decelerated towards the Artemisum shipyard. They were on the last leg of their journey before heading back to Overlook. They did a visual scan for the _Sentinel_. When they couldn't find it visually the Pilot switched over to ID scan of the nearby IMC ships. All scans came back negative.

"Artemisum Control, this is Phi-Delta Zero, over?"

"Copy, Phi-Delta Zero. Go ahead." The Control tower responded.

The Pilot checked for traffic before bringing the dropship into a hold pattern. It looked like the whole yard was being brought to bear. Goblin dropships were ferrying between ships as the larger class battleships were pulling into warp formations. Something big went down.

"I have one Hotel Victor Indigo to deliver to the _IMS Sentinel_ but cannot locate it on my systems."

"Understood Phi-delta. Be advised that the _IMS Sentinel_ has been designated for scrap." Control verified.

"Explain."

"It's part of an ongoing assessment and I cannot release any information at this time."

"I don't have time for this. Put the section chief on now."

The pilot gave the cargo hold a quick look back to see how their passenger was doing. The man was still siting there. He hadn't moved at all even the whole trip. Whatever Dr. Yisv had done on this one must've been extensive.

"This is the section chief." A new voice stated.

"Go to channel Zeta-Romeo One One." The pilot quickly ordered and switched to the IMC black frequency through the channel encoder.

A few seconds later, the section chief verified he was on the channel.

"How can I help you?"

"I have one high value individual for transfer to the IMS Sentinel, verify over."

"The Sentinel has been designated for scrap following a Militia raid on the facility." The Section chief informed the pilot.

"I see. I have one person for special transfer, code authorization Delta Upsilon Victor Zero One."

There was a pause on the other end of the line as the section chief processed the code authorization into his computer. The pilot drummed his fingers on the dash waiting for the code to clear. Working with Dr. Yisv as long as he had, he was used to the IMC's slow bureaucratic processes. It was faster today and the pilot chalked it up to the code he had just given.

"This is Artemisum Control. Phi-Delta Zero, you're clear to proceed to _IMS Colossus._ " The Section Chief reported. "You'll find Sergeant Blisk onboard."

"Understood, out." The pilot responded and switched off the frequency.

"Perks, huh?" The co-pilot said wryly.

The pilot grunted, "Let's just complete the delivery. This one really unsettles me."

* * *

Mayumi leapt awake from her bed, sweat beaded around her forehead. She had dreamed of Nimr again. Despite it being a good dream of one of their happier times together, it had still rattled her. She had hoped confessing it all to the therapist would've have brought some relief from this but the guilt was still present. In fact, the dream was more vivid than she would have liked.

She slid out from the sweat soaked sheets and over to the sink where she splashed her face. Mayumi scrubbed her face and then gripped the counter. Her hands felt the cold metallic rims of the sink. She let her focus center in on the drain, watching the last of the water leave the basin.

 _Nimr. I know you wanted to make me happy but all this is doing is hurting me._

Mayumi sunk her head and groaned. Now she was talking to him like he was here. How pathetic was that? Her mind flicked to the warmth she felt before she was going to die in Angel City. That was Nimr too, she thought. His presence was comforting but his absence was too much to bear.

Dr. Ornov came to her mind too, with his solution of her going to G2. In order to better realize her potential as a Titan Pilot and to wholly forget Nimr. Mayumi also felt that she couldn't commit to that either. She didn't want to forget who she was or her parents or why she joined in the first place. There was also the fact that the IMC on the Frontier was not the helping hand she thought it was back on Tau Ceti. Not with people like Blisk around.

She sighed. No wonder she couldn't sleep well, there were too many big thoughts still coursing through her head. There was no harm in trying to go back to sleep though and Mayumi sat back down on the bed. In the dark, she listened to the faint drum of the ship. She flopped onto the pillow, exhausted but unable to sink into sleep.

It was late but she had the idea now that she had to buzz Winters about it. She was her Squad Leader now, whose better opinion to ask? Mayumi hesitated and then doubted the importance of her own decision. Was it really all that important to bother her with this right now?

She shook the thoughts from her head. It was important. When the stim tanked her system, that almost got Harper killed. Her actions were directly affecting the team. Mayumi got from her bed again and went to the console. She sat down in the seat and plugged in her ID Tag. From the directory she searched the menu for Winters' room. When she found it, she inputed the number and pinged the room.

A few seconds later, a groggy Winters answered the console. Winters' pale face was bright in the glow of the console's screen. Mayumi stiffened at possibly pissing off her Squad Leader and braced herself for the angry reply.

"What?" Winters croaked.

"I –" Mayumi began before she choked on her words. Unable to fully articulate how she wanted to say it.

"Mayumi," Winters' voice rising in anger, "it's three in the fucking morning. It had better be important or you will suffer for it."

"I was offered to go to G2!" She bursted out in a panic.

"Oh. Good!" Winters upset tone disappeared into a pleasantly surprised one.

Mayumi was taken aback by this sudden turn of events. "You approve?"

"Of course I do. Grendel was as G2 and he was just as much a bastard as you are."

Mayumi's breath caught in her throat. "Um, what do you mean?"

"Listen, I haven't told you the whole thing yet but Ramirez has defected. He helped the Militia attack the _Sentinel_. Barrett and I saw him at the shipyard during the assault. But when he was docked down to a Grunt his files passed to me and I saw what you did at Whitehead. The way you killed Nimr, that's how I want to kill Ramirez."

She wanted to scream. Nimr had sacrificed himself so she wouldn't have to kill him herself. Now his beautiful act was being twisted at every turn by everyone else. Blisk, Ornov, and Winters; all of them. All Winters could see was what she wanted to. Another killer like Grendel: cold and remorseless. Was that what they saw, when they looked at her? A monster? Something to do their will and take petty revenge.

"In fact," Winters continued her focus on the console growing the more she explained herself, "that's why I teamed you up with Harper. She could learn something from you. She's still too shiny from basic, doesn't understand the Frontier like we do. Sometimes you have to do the dark thing that others can't, in order to get the job done.

Winters looked away from the console. "Like I should've done with him. When I had the chance. He was right there! I could've..." Winters let her words trail off and then she composed herself. "When you do it, I would like to be there to support you. That's the least I can do."

"I..." Mayumi began but found she couldn't finish. She was horrified by what Winters was saying to her. Her lower lip was trembling. Before she let anything slip, Mayumi gathered herself. "What I mean is, thank you."

It was the most upsetting lie she had ever said and the smile it brought to Winters' face turned her stomach upside down.

* * *

"What's the deal tin can?" Blisk said aggravated. He didn't like being disturbed this late at night, regardless of who summoned him. Being Hammond's lap dog, at least should of left him well enough alone.

"My apologies, Sergeant Blisk." Spyglass answered. "There is something that should be brought to your attention."

"Out with it, huh?" he crossed his arms in a clearly impatient mood.

"Of course." Spyglass said politely. "The matter concerns CINCFRONT."

 _Graves_. Blisk was sure whatever it was, it wasn't anything that concerned him. This tin can, IMC made or not, was about to bring up something Blisk was certain he didn't care to hear. Though, for whatever reason, he choose to confide it in him. That part was interesting.

"What exactly?" He said flatly.

Spyglass' blue eye blinked and the Spectre's servos whirred for a moment. "I have noticed subtle changes in Vice-admiral Graves behavior as of late."

Blisk laughed. All this cryptic talk and middle of the night meet ups just to talk about small changes to Graves' behavior. Spyglass must've crossed a wire or something.

"Oh that's rich. You bring me all the way out here for: 'subtle changes?'" Blisk scoffed and turned to walk back to his quarters.

"There is a chance that he is colluding with MacAllan." Spyglass continued in his calm tone. If robots could have calm tones, Blisk reflected.

He turned back around slowly. "You listen," Blisk said menacingly, "and you listen good. What you just said is utter shite."

"I have corroborative data that indicates a good probability of sympathetic behavior –"

"No," Blisk interupted him, "I don't give fuckall what your synthetic parts tell you. You toss that rubbish at me again – and I will scrap you."

Fucking machines. You had to look into the guts of a man to see his true character. Blisk had seen those guts in Graves. All too rarely these days you saw officers lead from the rear or from the safe distance of their ships in orbit. Graves was different from the rest. Highest rank on the Frontier and still slogged it in with the troops from time to time. That got respect from Blisk. The shiny balls on this Spectre to suggest otherwise was ludicrous. Spyglass variant or no.

Besides, you don't get to be Vice-admiral of the entire fleet by being sympathetic to terrorists. Things like that don't happen. Blisk opened the door to his quarters and picked up the decanter by the neck and took a swig. Graves wasn't a traitor. Absolutely no way.

* * *

"Alright, let's set him in." The dropship pilot said to the co-pilot.

"Got it."

"Man, eighteen jumps and that guy doesn't say a word." He whispered.

"Yeah." The co-pilot gave a nervous chuckle.

"Better than the opposite I guess. I hate ferrying civies to that place. It's the sniffling that gets me."

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah." The pilot guided the Goblin into the hanger of the _IMS Colossus_. "It's after the crying when they settle down and realize they have no way out, so they pray to themselves and sniffle."

"When's your leave coming up?"

"Trim up that angle." The pilot said making an adjustment to the docking angle.

"Got it." The Co-pilot made the adjustments. "So when?"

"Soon. I think thirty-three days."

"Hah! No wonder, you're complaining. You sound like a short timer."

The pilot glared over at his co-pilot. "And you sound like a new guy who hasn't sat on the short stick yet."

A hand with robotic finger curled around the co-pilot's chair and Grendel's grim face locked eyes with the pilot. His mouth was sealed tight, eyes drawn in irritation. The Goblin's cabin became incredibly quiet until a small warning chime came on. The pilot returned to landing the dropship, neither he nor the co-pilot spoke for the rest of the landing.

* * *

 _The job._ Grendel reflected as he exited the dropship. _There were those whose sole duty in life was the job._ _Day in and day out, an endless cycle of tedium. Like an abyss, when you stared at it long enough, you felt it staring back at you. Because he who fights monsters should look into himself, that he should not become one._

The halls of the _Colossus_ were new and yet completely familiar to Grendel. All the IMC ships functioned the same. The Hammond logos and vid screens were everywhere broadcasting bureaucratic propaganda and platitudes. Grendel saw the monster within, embraced it and made it into who he was. The IMC didn't want just resources for the Core Worlds, they wanted power. So that's what he wanted, too.

Flexing his arms, he saw what his desires had brought him. To transcend the mere mortal shackles of flesh and bone. Shedding his former name, for something that truly meant power: Grendel. A beast who was misunderstood and frightening to those who did not understand what he was.

But to understand that beast, one had to transcend the abyss. To go through fear of the unknown and become it and wield it like a weapon. When utilized in the right hands, fear could end a battle without having to fight. Fear was silent. Fear was deadly. Grendel could think of no other way to embody fear than by being a sniper. To strike from an unknown distance that no one could see or hear you. Nothing was as scary as the unknown.

He stopped at a kiosk and input his serial number. After a second the computer brought all his necessary information to the screen. Grendel saved the information to his wristcom and saw the time stamp. As of 0322 hours today, he was alive again. He had no idea that he had been listed as killed in action this whole time. It almost made him laugh. Dr. Yisv had brought him back from the abyss.

Sometime later, he opened the door to his quarters. The furnishings were spartan, just a bed, a small metal desk, and a locker. He stowed his G2A4, his armor, extra underlayer, and the rest of his kit. Then he lay atop the sheets of his bed and stared at the ceiling until he fell asleep.

He awoke in the morning confused. The night before he had dreamed of when he died. The advantage of getting the regeneration chip was to lose your previous combat memories. Despite this advantage, he had dreamed of a memory he shouldn't of had at all. On an unknown planet, he saved the life of someone in exchange for his own. He had done it so fast and compulsively as if on instinct. If there was a reason why he had done it, it had been erased from his memory. No remnant of an excuse to justify his failing.

Still it lingered in his mind, the fact that he had been beaten. That someone could beat him was a thought he had trouble getting rid of. The mere idea of it was a distraction and that was something he could ill afford. He had to be at his best, no he was beyond that now, better than.

Grendel gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. His focus unerring from where his gaze was fixed on the ceiling. He had so much anger that he had to put it some good use. Grendel zipped up his armor and located the nearest Titan bay and ran laps around it until he was exhausted.

"Attention all personel, this is the six. We are approaching the first of twenty six jump points to tower station Zulu." Vice-admiral Grave's voice echoed over the PA system. "You've all been given Code-Black-Five clearance for this operation."

The blacksite "Overlook" was Code-black-three, Grendel recollected. Where ever they were going was more classified than the secret facility that made his arms. That was interesting.

Graves continued, "Understand that you are going to a hostile planet; it will try to kill you. The dog-whistle Tower at this site has not functioned for twenty years, so you will be exposed to the wildlife out there. When you make planetfall, you will encounter Flyers with beaks powerful enough to pierce nine inch armour plating; you will see creatures so massive that they affect the calculations of jump co-ordinates."

 _Good. That will be the perfect place to prove that I'm better than anyone else. Militia or IMC. On a world this hostile, only the best will survive._

"Do not allow these hazards to distract you from the mission at hand – the Militia seeks to exploit the Repulsor technology, and we cannot allow that to happen. Take control of all the generator hardpoints, overload the tower and scuttle the base. Oh, and presuming you don't want to become a critter's lunch, take this time to locate and secure your hollow point rounds. Graves out."

Grendel left the Titan drop bay and returned to his quarters. He'd met up with his old squad again. His augments didn't matter anymore now that they all had clearance. _Ironic isn't it?_

* * *

O'Connell had toasted the hazelnuts to perfection, they complimented the roasted potatoes and garlic eggs with the single parsley leaf, exquisitely. Graves cut a thin slice of steak and dipped it in a rich sauce. He wiped his mouth with the napkin tucked it into his uniform. The boy had barely touched his food. Graves saw that he stared at it as if it was alien.

"Are you not hungry?" Graves asked, putting the piece in his mouth.

The boy remained silent.

"I can send for something else." Graves offered.

He saw him reach slowly for the fork and scraped everything off the eggs. Graves internally winced as he saw O'Connell's art subjected to its harshest criticism. The boy sniffed and frowned.

"What's in it?" he recoiled from the plate.

"Garlic." Graves said between bites.

"It smells funny."

Graves pointed his fork at Russ lazily. "Funny, how?"

"Like smelly, funny."

"Smartass." Graves said. "Eat."

The boy groaned. _Give me soldiers._ Graves silently wished to himself. He wasn't used to children and trying to coerce them into basic functions that every person should internally understand. Or the level of food of which he was being given that would cost a normal IMC Marine a month's salary to get. It was all about perspective. Clearly this boy wasn't used to eating normally prepared food.

Graves tried another approach, "What about the hazelnuts? They're plain."

He picked one up and tentatively bit it. The boy chewed it slowly and swallowed. "They're different from Troy nuts."

"Troy?" Graves looked perplexed.

"The planet I grew up on. It's called Troy."

"Ah, after the Odyssey." Graves understood. "Have you read the story?"

"No." The boy said as he chewed on the other half of the nut.

"It's a good story, one of my favorites. It's why I named the ship after it."

"That was your ship!" The boy's mouth hung open in surprise.

Graves put a slice of egg atop a piece of a steak and dipped it before eating it. "It was... a long time ago."

The boy stood up from the table excitedly, "If it was your ship, why weren't you on it?"

Graves looked at him sternly. It wasn't a story he liked telling, especially during the tribunal. However, it was a chance to get more about MacAllan from the boy. He wiped his mouth again and cleared his throat.

"Only if you tell me your name first."

"That's all? Russ, it's Russ. Okay tell me now!" He was practically jumping up and down in anticipation.

"Settle down!" Graves ordered. Russ fell into his seat deflated. When it looked like he wouldn't jump up again, graves began. "MacAllan, my friend, stole it from me when we were conducting scenarios on how to win the Frontier."

"Why'd he steal it?"

Graves gave a discontented sigh. "It's quite complicated really."

"I don't mind." Much to his chagrin, Graves saw that Russ didn't.

"Well – most of it had to do with legality and necessity." Graves started to explain. "There was a lot of debt after the Titan Wars and with the Paris Accord of 2183, the Core Worlds needed somewhere to pull new resources."

Graves took another bite of egg and then followed it with a sip of breakfast tea. Russ took this break in the explanation to eat another hazelnut. He could feel the boy's eyes watching him expectantly for him to reveal more. Before Graves continued, he thought about how he wanted to phrase his words.

"There was a lot of debate of how this debt should be collected. In the end, it was decided that force would be way to get it back. And so they sent a 'peace keeping' force to subdue the local populace. At first, all was fine but the demand for resources was higher than what the Frontier was willing to give. That's when MacAllan joined on. He and I tried different tactics to get what the Core Worlds needed, but in the end war was inevitable. We had our differences and those differences lead to a mutiny."

"What differences?" Russ asked inquisitively.

"Are you sure you're Turner's boy? You're awfully chatty." Graves gripped the tea cup again. "I remember him being very quiet."

"What differences?" Russ repeated undeterred.

"Those are classified."

"Aw come on!" Russ exclaimed. "I told you my name and that's all you'll tell me."

"That's more than what most people know." Graves said matter-of-factly.

"Not true, I knew all of that."

"Did you now?" Graves was amused. "Then why don't you tell me why I lost my ship?"

"Hamish said it was because..." Russ hesitated, which to Graves meant that it was something rude and unflattering. After a few moments Russ gained his courage and spoke quietly. "You were a fool to think you could change the IMC from the inside."

Graves was mid sip and had he not had more control of himself, he might have dropped the whole cup. He finished drinking his tea before setting it back on the table. "Was this Sergeant Hamish?"

"Yes." Russ answered.

"Then he's wrong."

"Then tell me what really happened." Russ pleaded.

"No."

"I'll eat my eggs, I'll tell you my middle name. Please just tell me!"

Graves got up and pushed on the intercom, "Escort the child back to his personal quarters."

"Noo, why?"

"Shut up!" Graves barked. He shut his eyes and calmed himself. "It's for your own good."

Two IMC Marines came in and escorted the boy from his quarters. Russ starred at him hurt and confused but once he was gone from the room Graves let out a sigh of relief. If anyone had heard that, Graves felt that he would have had to kill them. He might even have to reassign the guards outside the door to isolated outposts. That one sentence could have gotten them all killed.

There was still a long ways to go until they reached the Boneyard. He'd rest for an hour and then go to the bridge. Graves chastised himself for not seeing the play sooner. Graves turned his mind to some more productive than corporate paranoia and towards Angel City. Why else would Mac have gone to get Barker? His plan now would be to take out the base orbiting Demeter and then strike at the reactors. Graves wouldn't be outmaneuvered again.

* * *

Badlands System

Orbiting Former IMC Base Golden, designation: Boneyard

2212, March 10th 0825h

* * *

"Vice-admiral, I'm detecting a Militia presence already at the base." Spyglass informed Graves.

"Are they aware of our current position?"

"Negative," Spyglass analyzed, "I see no indication they are aware of our arrival."

"Good. Sergeant Blisk, ready an insertion team for immediate dust off. Only Pilots with cloaking and Class 2 sniper ratings. Then ready our main forces to secure the area. Our man MacAllan is trying to reverse engineer the tower."

"Yes, sir!"

Blisk pulled up the roster of available Pilots on the _Colossus_ and saw a familiar name appear on the list. _It looks like Dr. Yisv had been able to reprogram him faster than I expected_. Blisk was eager to see how Dr. Yisv's new augments would preform in the harsh conditions of this planet. He found three others with impressive records and summoned them to his quarters.

They arrived within a half-hour of the call going out. They were all impressive, Blisk noted, all just as he had hoped. The first to arrive was Lazra, she was an expert with the Longbow-Dmr and skilled survivalist. Afterwards was Prescott and Torlus, both from the same unit and both with a penchant for brutality. Lastly, came Grendel, though his service file had listed him once as "Walter Marzenko", he was the only G3 of the group followed by Lazra who was a G2.

"Pilots," Blisk started the briefing, "we got word that the Militia are trying to reverse engineer our repulsor technology!"

He punched up the holo-display on his desk and it created a representation of the landscape of the base Golden. Blisk pointed to the tall tower at the far side of the base. "The old tower was our prototype! Became the key advantage in colonizing worlds with hostile indigenous creatures."

The Pilot's faces studied the terrain, their minds already turned to approach and vantage points. Blisk grinned and continued. "Our objective is to scuttle this facility before the Militia learns too much about that tower. Patch me into the hardpoints, and we'll overload the core! That should do the trick. Ready up!"

The four of them left and headed towards the ready room. They were all silent the whole walk, there was no reason to engage in camaraderie. Each of them was a passing phase. Temporary persons for a temporary purpose. Each of them donned their armor and proceeded to the Goblin dropship awaiting their team.

Lazra and Grendel picked spots away from Prescott and Torlus, who sat next to each other. The dropship pilot went through the pre-flight check on all the systems, prepping the ship to make the jump to the Boneyard. Blisk made the last check on the squad.

"For this operation, you'll all be ghosts." He pointed at Lazra, Prescott, Torlus, and finally Grendel. "Ghost One, Two, Three, and Four. There's a sandstorm coming in through the west, you can use that for cover to approach the base. Engage only if necessary. Alright!"

Blisk turned and walked away from the dropship as the ramp lifted up. Grendel heard Torlus grunt and pull his mask down. "I thought he would come with us."

"Nope." Prescott drawled.

"Shame," Torlus said, "I heard he is good with a blade."

Silence filled the cabin and no one felt they had to break it. The hull creaked as they broke through upper atmo.

"Jumping in three, two, one..." The pilot counted down.

The dropship warpped, forcing itself through physical space and into the lower atmosphere of planet Leviathan. Immediately, the alarms for near impact went off and the pilot swerved to avoid the oncoming towering creature. The goblin banked hard to the left and Grendel was forced against the webbing holding the medkits. From his view out the window, just past Lazra, he saw the creature that planet Leviathan got it's name from.

The dropship leveled out and Grendel could no longer see the leviathan anymore, just the desert landscape between it's legs. He fathomed to imagine how Airbase Sierra was able to exist normally with those beasts lumbering around. His thoughts turned back to the situation at hand as the dropship pulled in low for a hover position.

"It's two klicks to Golden from here. That's the tower in the distance." The pilot pointed out. "Alright, here's your stop."

The four Pilots stood and up and hopped out of the dropship. After Torlus had departed, the ship pulled back into orbit and vanished. Lazra pulled out an old fashioned compass and directed herself towards north. Grendel and the others watched her turn in place with fascination. After she got her bearings, Lazra took off towards the nearest cliffside.

Grendel followed after her first. That was a smart thing to have in this day and age of cyber warfare suites and EMPs. Something old and non-electronic was good to have. Grendel was impressed. He pulled himself up the cliff face and kept his body and low to the ground as possible to not give off a silhouette to anyone who might be watching. She was already on her stomach and using the detached ACOG scope of her Longbow-DMR to scout out the landscape.

He pulled up next to her and did a scan himself. The Militia were everywhere but in no real pattern. Grendel spotted a sniper atop a large spine of a dead leviathan and saw him aim at something to his right. A split second later they heard the report of the Kraber.

"One sniper, several patrols." Lazra stated.

"No basic sweep pattern, should be easy to infiltrate." Grendel added.

"Indeed." Lazra began crawling her way backwards.

Grendel lingered a second eying the sniper. Something about him resonated to him. There was a sense of Deja Vu of this whole scenario. As he crawled back himself he realized where he'd felt this before. In his dream where he had died, he had been in a valley and the sniper had shot him from above. It must be the situation that made him think so, there was no other tangible evidence otherwise.

He dropped the last few feet down to the ground and approached the huddle the other three Pilots made. Lazra had made a map in the sand and was pointing out what she and Grendel had seen. Torlus knelt down and pointed to where the sniper on the map was.

"He's picked a good place to perch." Torlus observed. Grendel noticed his accent was similar to Winters.

"We can use this riverbed here to move up to the landing pad. Did you see any ventilation or alternate routes into the facility?"

Lazra thought for a moment and then pointed to a point just outside the landing pad to the northern side. "The cliff face connects to the facility here inside his blind spot."

Grendel looked up from the map and mentally spaced the direction out. "Looks good." He observed the R-101c of Prescott and Torlus' Kraber. "We can break into two teams."

Prescott simply nodded towards Torlus. They all had affixed suppressors to their weapons. Blisk had been apt when he named their squad Ghost.

"We should wait for the sandstorm to come closer. It should aid us." Torlus had turned his head towards the direction of the oncoming storm.

"Good idea." Lazra agreed. She had turned her head too and saw the sand sweeping towards them.

With the prep-work complete, the four Pilots broke off into pairs to infiltrate the once abandoned facility. Lazra and him, followed the canyon until it opened up into a view of the dunes. She put up her arm to tell him to halt. Grendel could hear voices coming just beyond his view of the canyon. From the number of voices it was multiple Militia outlaws coming there way.

Lazra held up four fingers, then turned them upside to create an "M". _Four Militia._ That much he could hear for himself. He nodded that he understood. She cloaked, her outline barely visible around the stratus layers of the canyon's wall. Quickly, she popped around the corner to investigate further. Grendel stiffened his grip around his G2A4, ready to use it.

Lazra reappeared and motioned for them to crouch down. She cloaked again and Grendel followed her lead. Some seconds later four Militia soldiers entered into view. They slowly walked by their position, completely unaware of the two of them.

Lazra ticked her mic, then again a second later. _A countdown, I get it._ Another tick. Grendel readied his G2A4, going for the right hand side pair.

"Now." Lazra ordered.

All four terrorists dropped to the ground. Grendel's camo flickered but resumed as he stood up and scanned the sectors making sure they were clear. Lazra inspected the bodies. She flipped one over and plunged her data-knife into his chest and soldier choked one last time. Finished, she moved onto the next one and retrieved a tablet. Lazra played with it for a moment, seeing if she could access it. When she couldn't unlock it, she put it by the wayside casually.

"Four Militia down, moving on." Lazra said over the radio, she collected her Longbow and they moved onwards towards the base.

"Copy." Torlus signaled back. "Good hunting."

* * *

"... advanced assets have already infiltrated the base. The highest concentration of forces is around the main tower. However, we can hold our forces here around the two main sources of power and overload the base." Winters informed her team.

She had just come from the Squad Leaders briefing where Spyglass had given them the mission for the day. Winters was more impatient and frustrated. This war should've been over with already. Between the failure on the Colony, MacAllan and Ramirez's defection, there was a lot to think about. She already regretted not spiking Ramirez when she had the chance. Every time she thought about it, it made her sick. There was no excuse for his actions.

"What's the radius of the detonation?" Barrett asked.

"All interiors." Winters answered.

Barrett rubbed his chin. "I see."

Winters eyed Mayumi and Harper. Harper looked worried and Mayumi looked conflicted. _Damnit, she should be excited. Being offered G2 should be incredible. If Harper's holding her back, I swear._

"At any rate," Winters said to grab everyone's attention, "We're gearing up, the second they hit resistance, we roll in drive out the Militia. Understood?"

They all grunted approval.

"Good. Kit up." Winters dismissed the team. They all turned to leave but Winters grabbed Harper's shoulder. "Let's talk for a moment."

Harper gulped. "Y-yes, Ma'am."

Winters watched Barrett and Mayumi leave. Then she flashed her eyes back to Harper. "I heard about what happened on 210."

"Wot? Oh no, it won't happen again. Honest! It was just that in the row, my visor broke and-"

"No, you idiot. Mayumi and you almost died from your incompetence!" Winters gripped Harper by the tape of her zipper. Harper let out a little yelp. "You ever endanger the life of a squad mate again, I swear you will not make it to the evac."

Harper was at a loss for words.

"Ma'am, I-" She stuttered. "She wasn't used to – She told me that –"

"Enough." Winters silenced her. "No excuses. If you had killed that Militia Pilot when you were supposed to, she wouldn't of pushed herself so hard."

Harper twisted her face up in indignation and stiffened. "Aye, Ma'am. It won't happen again."

Winters let go of her. "See that it doesn't. Dismissed."

* * *

Grendel retracted the knife from the Grunts' chest. He watched as the life drained from the man's surprised eyes. When he had died, Grendel let the corpse drop to the ground. He was pleased with the work of Dr. Yisv. G3 was everything he had hoped it would be. The replacement arms were strong and the man he had just killed stood no chance in his grip. Even with the nano-second delay, his reflexes felt like they happened before he could will them. The knife had plunged so fast, neither he or the terrorist could've stopped it.

It was beautiful. He had sent another soul to the abyss.

They had entered through one of the obscured ventilation shafts into the landing pad. The Militia were probably looking for more information about the IMC's project here. Scouring the base for anything that could help them turn the tables.

"Heads up," Torlus signaled, "Three plus one Pilots en route."

Lazra knelt back down and yanked off one of the dead Militiaman's helmet and popped out the send-receive chip and inserted it into her own. Grendel grinned. That was smart, he hadn't even thought of that before.

She listened for a few moments then popped the chip back out. "They think its the sandstorm or a bad transmitter."

Grendel snorted.

"Idiots." Prescott commented.

"Looks like our sniper knows the plus one." Torlus observed. "His rifle's following him closely."

"Good eye." Lazra said.

"That one's mine." Grendel announced. He had a feeling about that sniper, he had to know why.

Lazra held her gaze on Grendel for a moment trying to determine the motivation before she disregarded it and moved on. "We should move."

They picked there way deep into the facility. Grendel knew that any decent thermal image would pick them up, not even their cloaking could hide their temperatures. On top of that, any decent Pilot looking for a cloaked Pilot would be able to spot them. With luck, they'd be able to get the drop on them if they still believed that it was just a bad transmitter.

"Here." Lazra pointed to a series of thermal piping. She slipped behind a section that would normally house a deactivated Marvin. Afterwards, she pointed to the section above her. It was a shelf formed by piping and out of place. Lazra formed two finger guns with her hands and put one in front of the other, indicating that it looked like a firing position. He had to agree.

Grendel approached the piping and tested the weight. It felt like it would hold him and so he swung himself up. He pulled out his rifle and checked the fire sectors. It was a decent view but it would only work if the Pilots swept through the hall.

"Pilots are now in front of the building." Prescott alerted them. "We're going to shift position, so as to not attract the attention of wildlife."

"Understood. Out." Lazra confirmed.

Minutes later, there was sound of quiet footfalls. Grendel could distinctly hear the sets of two pairs walking behind each other. One of the footfalls felt heavier than the rest and Grendel made the leap that that one was wearing heavier armor.

He trained his rifle towards the far end of the hall, near the junction. Eventually, two figures entered his line of sight. They checked the hallway and indicated one team should go right. The first team continued into the hallway followed by another team and began to move down there hallway.

Grendel keyed his mike four times to indicate the four approaching Pilots. Lazra keyed her's once to confirm. The first pair moved quickly, their rifles trained forward. Grendel tensed as they swept past. One was making heavier footfalls and Grendel saw an assault class Pilot with a Spitfire. Grendel followed them as they moved right on past. Headed to where the squad of Militia troops, he and Lazra had just killed. The two moved by and down the hall without stopping.

The other pair moved slower and the man moved unconcerned but the woman behind him moved more cautiously. Grendel followed them closely, keeping his G2A4 trained on the woman in case she made any sudden moves.

"... I'm just saying." The man's voice became audible. "When you and I get back we can cook one of these things and eat it."

"I'm not eating anything from this planet."

Her cautious movements continued but her face relaxed into a smile. The pair had stopped about two meters from Grendel and Lazra's hiding spot. The man turned around.

"It'll probably taste like chicken."

"Gross. I hate chicken." She said, lowering her weapon.

That was the moment Grendel wanted. He keyed the mike three times in quick succession. Took aim for the woman's helmet and fired. Simultaneously, Lazra appeared from her hiding point, knifed the other Pilot and yanked him back.

Grendel slid off the piping and gently lowered himself down. Lazra was stashing the male Pilot into the alcove when his radio went off.

 _Hey, where's Yon?_

 _Uh, she was here a second ago. Anyone seeing Yon outside? Grissom, you copy?_

Lazra was picking up the second Pilot as Grendel bent down next to the man named Grissom. He pulled off the man's helmet and pulled out his send/receive chip. Lazra hefted up the other dead Pilot named Yon.

"Be careful with that. If you put that on, it'll be picked up on their channels." Lazra warned him. "Be very brief with it."

Grendel plugged in the chip.

 _Negative,_ _no one's been in or out, since you went in. Grissom, you in there man? Come in._

Grendel removed the chip. "They're putting it together. Should call in the main force."

"Blisk, this is Ghost One. Send them in."

"They'll be coming back for these two." Grendel said.

Lazra propped up Yon at an obscured angle with her back turned towards hallway. She held her up with one hand, gripping her pistol in the other. A moment or two followed and a shout came from the end of the hall.

"Hey Yon, what're you doing there? Yon? Yon!"

Lazra nodded to Grendel and they both broke from cover and shot at the two Militia Pilots. One of the fallen Militia Pilots jerked up on their rifle snapping a shot off. Lazra shot him again just to confirm he was dead. Grendel plugged the chip back into his helmet. There was bound to be chatter now.

 _Shots fired in sector Charlie Three. No eyes on friendlies._

Grendel's curiosity was burning to see who this was the man who had killed him. The man that had caused his rebirth.

"Is that you... sniper? I – dreamed. They told me I couldn't."

Lazra snapped up but didn't move. Grendel walked up to her. "You understand. Why I must know."

Lazra nodded and Grendel nodded back before he jogged out of the facility. He topped off his mag and readied himself. _May the best duelist win._

* * *

Winters paced back and forth in the cabin of the Goblin dropship explaining the last few details they needed to know before they dropped. The dropship curved on the approach vector and Winters calmly grabbed a handle to steady herself.

"Remember, we need to hold at least two of these reactor points to ignite the base. We'll clear out these sections here and here."

Winters pointed to two buildings below. Seeing the AA turret on the ground, she pointed to it as well. "Harper! Secure that tower, Barrett you'll cover her."

Harper stood a little rigid and squeaked. Winters saw she hadn't replaced her visor yet. "I hope that not having a visor, won't affect your combat ability, Harper."

"N-no, Ma'am!" She said as she ran past and leapt from the Goblin.

Barrett walked up and spoke softly to her. "You shouldn't be so hard on her."

Winters glared at him behind the facade of her helmet. "Get going, Barrett."

He snorted and casually dropped from the ramp. Mayumi dropped the visor of her helmet and took a running start and followed him out.

"Four on the way out." Winter informed the dropship pilot.

"Aye, copy." The dropship pilot confirmed.

Winters dropped off the ramp and boosted the last few feet to the ground. In front of her, Harper had brought the AA gun back on line and the gun immediately took to tasking. It's guns still functional it began taking flyers out of the sky.

There was the loud report of a Kraber nearby and Winters ducked reflexively. A moment later there were loud thumps as two Grunts hit the deck. Before she could call out for a sniper three Flyers swooped in and grasped for the Grunt bodies and pulled them away.

"Ma'am!" A Grunt pulled up to her. "We got heavy Militia resistance inside the tunnels here! Possible SRS!"

"Then roll in with Spectres if you have to!" She snapped.

As she finished, the entrance to the tunnel exploded, throwing dust into their faces. The Grunt coughed and waved his hand to clear the air. Winters looked towards the now disfigured entrance. The whole of the entrance stood resolutely but deeply scarred and blackened. _At least the facility was built to last._

"Fuckin' Militia. Rigged that section to blow." The Grunt wheezed and choked.

"Schwachkpof." Winters faced away from the tunnel and clutched the side of her helmet. "Command, this is Stalker One. Requesting drop pod support on my designation, classification Spectres, over?" She aimed her wrist-com at the location and with her other hand punched in the drop command.

"Aye, confirmed designation. Drop in 15, out."

Winters turned back to the Grunt, "That's two of your problems I've solved today."

The Grunt saluted and returned to the line. Winters signaled for Mayumi to come to her. Mayumi hustled over to Winters.

"Ma'am!"

"We have to push through this entrance here." She indicated towards the tunnel entrance. "Move in with the Grunts and pick them off. Barrett and I will flank around the back!"

"I'll get it done."

Mayumi ran over to the nearest Grunt and gave him the update. Winters thought that she saw relief on the Grunt's face, knowing that a Pilot was going to be moving in with them. The Grunt made the "ready up" motion and the rest of the squad fell in on him.

Simultaneously, two drop pods crashed nearby and the shark-faced Spectres emerged. On Winters' HUD, she saw that the Spectres were under her operational control. The eight units quickly regrouped onto her position.

"This is Stalker, moving onto hardpoint Alpha."

"Understood." Spyglass confirmed.

"Barrett!" Winters yelled over the battlefield. He turned his head towards her. She made a flanking motion with her hand and he nodded.

She got up from her position and ran around the length of the building and the two of them met up. Barrett laughed as he saw the Spectres running behind her.

"Looks like your own little army."

"Damn right. Let's get in there."

"Where should I be?" Harper popped in on the radio.

"Cover our backs and don't let any of the Milita get past us."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Winters ordered her Spectres to move in first. The first one in past the doorway was shredded by small arms fire. The second and third received a couple hits but pushed past the first one into the room beyond. Winters leaned in behind one of the rear Spectres for cover and Barrett pulled in behind her.

She pulled into cover and assessed the situation. There were multiple terrorists firing on them with concentrated but inaccurate fire. Once the Spectres got in, they were able to push back the Militia inside the room.

"They're falling back!" Barrett got up to pursue.

"Let them go for now!" Winters pulled him back. "They blew a tunnel entrance. This could be another one of those pursue and sever tactics.

"Good idea." Barrett said.

Winters got on her mike, "Mayumi, what's your status?"

There was gunfire over the radio, amplified due to the confined spaces. The sound almost made Winters jump. After a moment or two of the gunfire, Mayumi finally broadcasted.

"They're putting up a fight. Trying to keep the corridor open while they fall back." There were several shots of her Smart Pistol. "I'm doing what I can but its tough to pin them down."

"They must be regrouping at another choke point." Winters wondered.

"I don't like it. They left us in control of the hardpoint." Barrett pointed out.

"We'll figure it out later." Winters drew up her Hemlock. "Harper, shift position and see if you can get ahead of the retreating Militia."

"A-aye." Harper replied.

"What you so hard on her for?" Barrett said as he picked his way to the terminal on the hardpoint.

"After the mission," She began when suddenly the tower pulsed.

"The hell?" Barrett shook his helmet.

Several IMC Grunts appeared from the hallway below. Barrett relinquished his seat on the terminal and two Grunts took their place on the console. Mayumi strode up to Winters, holstering her Smart Pistol and raising her visor.

"Report." Winters ordered.

"The Milita retreated back towards the tower. I've posted a squad to maintain guard there in case they return. What was that? An EMP?"

"Not sure. Quickly, reset your systems. How many did you get before that pulse?"

"I got twelve on their way out, including their rear guard. We took five ourselves."

"That's good all things considered. Alright!" Winters addressed the soldiers in the room. "Hold this hardpoint, we're going to pursue the enemy. Let's go."

Barrett and Mayumi followed Winters as she exited the room. Winters lead them back towards the tunnel Mayumi had entered. With Alpha secured, her intention was to secure Bravo. Still, the retreat itched at Winters' mind it was too easy.

Mayumi suddenly pushed her aside and dove for the ground. Barrett was slower but still reacted quickly enough as another satchel charge exploded. Winters coughed and quickly righted herself. Mayumi had propped herself up against the side of the tunnel.

"What the hell!?" Winters exclaimed.

Barrett let loose with his carbine firing into the dust to create covering fire. "I thought you had cleared this section!"

"I did." Mayumi answered. "They're not here so I reacted."

Winters patted Barrett on the shoulder to knock off the cover fire. There was a cough from the other side of the tunnel.

"Please, don't shoot! Friendly!"

Winters tightened her face, the voice was familiar but the mask hid most of it. A lone IMC Grunt stumbled out of the dust. Then she saw it, the stance, he wasn't a Grunt. They were stupid enough to give that much time to react, the Grunt tossed a satchel charge towards them. Barrett fired, Winters turned away. Much to both of their surprise Mayumi leapt forward, Smart Pistol outstretched.

 _Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap._

"Harper!" Mayumi yelled.

From the other side of the entrance, Harper entered with her RE-45 in hand. She swept the entrance, wallrunning until she was in range to kick the Pilot. His reaction time was fast and he grabbed Harper by the leg and swung her aside. The Grunt pulled off his helmet and tossed it aside. Winters gritted her teeth hard.

 _Ramirez_.

"Fast moves, Jumpie." Ramirez complimented Mayumi.

Mayumi resorted to manual firing. Winters didn't understand it until, she realized that Ramirez must still have a friendly IR signal. Ramirez dodged to the best of his ability, rolling over a crate to hide from Mayumi's rounds.

"Get up Harper!" Mayumu shouted.

Winters patted Barrett on the back, "Get up, go go go!"

They both stood up, making sure the spot Ramirez had hid behind was covered. They joined Mayumi, who withdrew her Hammond pistol as well. She moved over to Harper, carefully positioning herself to be able to return fire against more Militia.

"Harper?" Mayumi nudged her with her boot.

Harper gasped and popped up. "Ohh-ly-shit! Phew!"

"Damnit." Ramirez said from behind his crate.

"Arc him." Winters ordered Barrett.

Barrett went for his Arc grenade but as he did so, the hardpoint room erupted in gunfire. As the grenade flew from his hands, Ramirez took it as opportunity to flee again. Mayumi let fire both her guns but her accuracy was diminished and Winters' bursts were just long enough to not give her a chance to adjust her fire.

Suddenly, there was a pulse of EMP and Winter's helmet froze up and blurred. It scrambled her communications for a brief moment all fire halted. _What is going on?_

"Barrett! Mayumi! Get Harper and pull back!"

* * *

Grendel's arms locked up and to his horror his trigger finger kept firing. Whatever that pulse was had interfered with his wiring on his arms. Adapting, Grendel mitigated the issue and leaned his body forward to keep shooting at the Militia sniper. There was respect there to be had. His opponent's gambit was bold and the Militia timing their interference was exceptional.

When the gun was dry, with great effort, Grendel forced his arms to part and his G2A4 dropped into the sand. He grunted in pain and quickly checked to see if his arms had resumed working again. They were and he flexed each of the fingers. Dr. Yisv hadn't thought of EMP shielding. That was an issue Grendel hadn't foreseen.

Quickly, acting, Grendel reboot his cloaking system and ripped his helmet off to reboot the interface. By the time, he was back online, he had lost view of his quarry. He snatched up his rifle and smacked in a fresh magazine. It was irritating him greatly. Grendel made another scan from his view at the archway overlooking the entire Boneyard. On his return scan, three flyers landed about where the sniper fell.

Grendel snapped to his viewer. To further add to his annoyance, the scope was out. At this range, he had no chance of taking the flyers out. A chase this good, couldn't end with his opponent killed by anyone else. He was his to kill.

He traced the lone flyer back to its nest. Nestled high above the battlefield on a cliff face. Grendel stripped his G2A4 of the holosight and slung the rifle. It was to the east, about a klick from his position. Grendel waited until his cloaking system had restored, then he took off with all intent of scaling the cliff.

"You figure that out yet, Spyglass?" Blisk turned to Syglass on the bridge.

The Tin Can looked up from its port on the bridge with a slow and deliberate stare. "The Militia are causing the pulses to analyze the tower's vulnerabilities. Whoever is behind this strategy is surprisingly clever for a human."

 _Course, you would say that, you're a machine._ "Yeah, well if you can detect when the next one's coming, a little heads-up would be nice."

Blisk turned his attention back to halo-board. Ghosts One through Three had returned to the perimeter of the battle, providing overwatch. Blisk searched the board and saw Ghost Four climbing the cliff face.

"Ghost Four, return to the Zone of Operations now. Ghost Four?" Grendel wasn't responding. He pulled up the quick info tab of the Ghost Squad and scrolled through until he saw someone with a decent scope.

"Ghost Two, this is Blisk."

"Ya, go ahead." Torlus answered.

"Get eyes on Ghost Four."

The line went quiet for a moment. "I see him."

"What's he doing? Contact him and get him back here now." Blisk ordered.

"Yes, sir." Torlus said.

"Are you having trouble maintaining communications, Sergeant Blisk?" Spyglass inquired.

"Don't start with me, Tin Can."

Grendel swung his leg over the side and pulled himself up. There were several Flyers hanging about. They looked like the stupid birds they were up close. Grendel noticed that the Flyers paid little attention to him when they were nesting. He wasn't surprised. Being the dominate predator on the planet, why would it care what some other foreign animal was doing in its territory?

Well, it was time to prove that wrong. Grendel unhooked the Arc grenades from their clips and tossed them into the nest. He saw the animals shit themselves and squawk awfully as they clumsily took off and fly away. Their lack of grace and cunning only proved to Grendel that man was still the most dangerous animal. They were the only real thing worth hunting was something as smart as you.

He located the Pilot amongst the myriad of nests and animal feces. His uniform was torn and he was bloody but he was alive. Grendel pulled his Hammond out and cocked the hammer.

"You move and I will kill you."

The Militia sniper just breathed. Seeing no indication of him being a threat, Grendel holstered his pistol and withdrew his knife. The sniper flinched and Grendel forced his arm down on his shoulder.

"I'm going to cut away your upper armor to check the wounds."

Not that the Milita Pilot could resist, he was weaken and exhausted. Even as pathetic as his state was now, this was the man that almost killed him. Grendel decided that coming back from the dead was as good as not being dead in the first place.

"You're... supposed... to be... dead."

Grendel saw the Militia Pilot clearly didn't agree. He made a length wise cut on the sleeve and tore the rest off.

"Move your hand. Flex." Grendel ordered him.

The man did so. _Good, so he's not entirely useless._ Grendel moved onto the next sleeve and repeated the process of tearing. This arm wasn't so good. The claw mark was deeper, where it had slipped past the armor.

"Now this arm."

The man groaned but the arm didn't move. Grendel didn't like that. He couldn't hunt a lame animal.

"Do it. Do it – or I will kill you."

The man made an effort but the pain was too great. Grendel decided to put something in his mouth to bite on. He took some cloth from his kit and rolled it up. Next, he felt the Pilot around his neck and felt for the latch to pop off the helmet. The helmet came off and Grendel saw a man of mixed background as was common on the frontier, with a black beard. Grendel presented the rolled up cloth to him. The sniper bit down on it.

"Try now." Grendel said. "This time really try."

The Milita Pilot groaned and pained and forced himself to flex his left arm. Grendel was pleased. He would be able to fire a rifle or use a Titan after all. He reached back into his kit and withdrew some pain killers and stabbed the small injection needle into the man's exposed bicep. There were no immediate protrusions and so Grendel decided to move him.

The new arms were good load-bearing ones and the man's weight wasn't too much to bear over his back. Some distance away he spotted a communications line and made a jog towards it. He pulled on the cable to check the tension, then he inspected the drop downwards. It was still quite a drop.

Grendel put the man back down and unhooked his jumpkit and extra weight. That made him considerably lighter and incase he had to he could boost to break his fall. Grendel hooked his arm onto the zipline and coasted down.

When they reached the end, Grendel disconnected and landed on one knee and roughly laid the sniper on the sands. The man grunted in pain and mumbled something about his head. Grendel flipped back his cowl and pulled his mask off. Then Grendel knelt next to him.

"They have seen my strength for themselves. Have watched me rise from the darkness of war. Dripping with my enemy's blood. I have swam in the blackness of the abyss, hunting monsters. Death was my errand and fate. Now you and I are called together and we will meet again on Demeter."

Grendel stood up but before he cloaked himself again he said. "Try not to die before then."

* * *

"This is Stalker, I need an update on the overload!" Winters shouted over the brushing sandstorm.

"The overload is almost complete. We're almost at critical levels." Command updated her.

"Understood." She replied.

Winters looked around at the mass of Grunts and Spectres around her.

"Epsilon will take the left flank immediate the hardpoint." Winters began. "Lambda will push up the center. Barrett take the top and secure the roof with Harper. Mayumi go with Lambda, I'll go with Epsilon."

They broke formation and took to their positions. The idea was to trap the Militia inside and wait for the base to detonate. Winters smiled to herself. She felt this was fitting punishment for a traitor.

Winters reached her starting point and sent the Spectres again in first. They were most expendable of her troops and good for probing the enemy position. The first two came under heavy fire just inside the hallway's junction. One went down while the other hobbled forward. Winters recollected what the inside of the room looked like.

"Barrett are you in position?"

"Yeah."

"Do it."

Seconds later, several Arc grenades went off stunning the defenders. Winters grabbed the first Grunt and pushed him forward. Epsilon squad went forward into the room. At first, there was only gunfire from the IMC in the room but then the Militia returned fire. A lone Grunt staggered back out clutching his chest.

"The walls..." He said as he collapsed onto the concrete wall.

"Mayumi, status?" Winters radioed.

"We're pinned down in the hallway. Two Pilots and Ramirez."

"I need a pulse of how many are still in there."

"Roger." A moment went by. "Twelve. Seven Grunts, four Pilots, and Ramirez."

"Okay, new strategy. Deploy Titans. We'll bury them in there."

Winters designated a Titanfall point and dropped her new Titan: Zveroboy. A fitting name she thought for killing Militia. It was an Ogre class Titan, wielding her preferred 40mm gun and outfitted with cluster missiles. Her Titan collected her and put her into the cockpit.

"Squad, target all exits from this facility. Maximum ordnance."

Her Ogre lifted the 40mm over its head, ready to fire. Winters gripped both handles and pressed in on the fire controls. The 40mm fired a burst of three shells into the concrete, ripping the wall to small shards. Simultaneously, she launched a cluster missile into the fray. It erupted into several smaller explosions collapsing the entrance and part of the mountain side.

 _We're still inside! Hold fire!_ Winters' radio flared with one of the Grunts pleas.

"All units inside Hardpoint Alpha. The IMC thanks you for your service." She said grimly.

"Rooftop, secured." Barrett confirmed.

Winters turned to her right and saw Mayumi's Titan fire a rocket pod into the southern entrance. "South exit – sealed." She said remorsefully.

"Is that all of them?" Winters asked.

"There's another on the eastern side." Harper answered. "But the Marines have gotten out yet."

Winters' clenched her controls even tighter. "Stalker Four, I gave a direct order." She said slowly and menacingly.

"I know!" Harper replied. "But – but this isn't right!"

Winters pivoted her Titan to move towards Harper's position but Mayumi's Titan held up her hand. She understood what Mayumi wanted to do but Winters wouldn't allow it. Harper's weakness was not hers to bear. She pushed past Mayumi's Titan and spirited towards Harper.

"Ma'am, please just ten more seconds!" Harper pleaded.

Winters just threw a punch into Harper's Atlas sending it careening into the sand. Articulating her Titan grip on the 40mm, she aimed at the entrance making her point clear to her subordinate. When the first IMC Grunt cross the threshold, Winters fired, sweeping the Grunt off his feet and smashing the entrance. The last exit crumbled into rubble sealing the facility shut.

Harper growled, "How could you do that!?"

"We can't risk the Militia to escape." Winters said matter-of-factly.

"So you just bury everyone inside?"

"I don't need to justify myself to you. The Frontier isn't a pretty place and this war. Sacrifices must be made."

"You're horrible." Harper sniffed.

Winters snorted. She aimed her barrel at Harper's cockpit. It would've been easy for het to pull the trigger. "I told you what would happen if you didn't do what needed to be done. Effective on our return to the _Colossus_ you're no longer apart of this squad."

Suddenly, explosions wrapped the area in fire. Harper's Titan was badly damaged and an arm flew off. The great strength of the Ogre, held Winters upright until another another explosion smashed her against a stone pillar. From her vantage point she saw a Militia Crow dropship speed by.

She tried to push her Titan upward but it wouldn't function. Winters forced the controls several times but the function in the arms wouldn't budge. Several more explosions rocked the facility as the Crow circled back around. The missiles striking Barrett's position as he blocked most of the salvo with his Vortex Shield.

Winters adjusted her view and saw that the strike was meant to blow a hole in the facility. Out of it four Militia Pilots and Ramirez hustled into an awaiting Crow. Incensed, she fired the last of her cluster missiles but the angle was wrong and it instead flew over the dropship, smashing into the side of the cliff. Ramirez and another Pilot turned to look before hurrying into the dropship.

She couldn't let him get away again and smashed the hatch open and aimed her Hemlock at the open door of the Crow. Winters fired burst after burst to no avail as the bullets collided haplessly against the D-CSAR. She was so enraged that she emptied her entire magazine anyways.

Ramirez's face twisted and he recognized her. To add insult to injury, he gave her a mock salute. Then the dropship's doors closed and the ship boosted away into a warp. Moments later, the facility burst into flame as the core exploded.

She tossed away her empty Hemlock into the sand. Winters just sat back down inside her Titan, letting the wind blow past her. They had won and stopped the Milita from getting most of the data from the base but for her the victory was hallow. Ramirez had to die and this was twice she had failed to kill him.

* * *

"Vice-Admiral Graves," Spyglass said, "My analysis of the base's archives indicates that despite our best efforts, the Militia may have obtained enough data to find a weakness in the towers."

 _It had come down to this then, huh Mac? You should've taken my advice and stayed gone._

"Spyglass. Notify Commander Hood at IMC Airbase Sierra; they're about to come under attack. Furthermore to start long range patrols up to twenty quadrants of Demeter around the clock! I want all ground assets in the sector on high alert! Mobilize the reserve fleet from Artemisium and tell them to set an intercept course for Demeter within the next three hours!" Graves ordered from his command chair.


	13. Chapter 7A: When Two Sides Go to War

_Hey Everyone, this is another long one, so note's on top this time. Thanks for reading this as always. I really appreciate all the feedback and views from you guys. If I haven't mentioned it before I've been using the Titanfall Landmark maps to notate where the plot is, so it's easier to follow along. The one for Airbase is all mixed but I presume, most of you have played the first game before and that won't stump you for too long! :D_

 _Anyways, I'm super stoked as Airbase is my favorite map from the first game and I've been dying (for 2 years! D:) to actually get to it. Thanks again, everyone, I hope you like it!_

* * *

Demeter System

1st Militia Fleet en route to IMC Airbase Sierra

2212, March 10th 1005h

The CIC of the _Annapolis_ was filled with Titan Pilots, dropship pilots, Grunt squad leaders, and patched in ship Captains through the comms. Sarah observed the crowd in front of her. It had to have been the largest crowd she'd seen since Anderson had been in charge. Homesteaders, ex-Titan Wars veterans, former IMC, criminals, mercenaries, and even a few others to add to the mix, all here to oust the IMC from their homeland. Men and women from all over the Frontier united together in one single purpose today.

MacAllan and Bish entered the CIC. Sarah saw that Bish looked tired. He'd been at the schematics for hours but he finally found something that could take out the towers. Once he'd found that, she had organized all the officers together. Now with them here, they could get the briefing started.

"Fleet, this is MacAllan." The CIC grew quiet as everyone turned to face him. As MacAllan neared the holo-board a large planet materialized. A moon appeared next, its orbit filled in around the large planet. On the moon an icon appeared with text displaying it as "Airbase Sierra". On either side of the planet, two groups of three triangles appeared labeled as "9th QRF" and "21st QRF". From the opposite edge of the board materialized the 1st Militia Fleet.

"Good news – we got what we needed from that tower. Only one thing remains between us and Demeter – the greatest concentration of IMC power on the Frontier. Graves will alert Demeter to our coming, if he hasn't already. Regardless, if any attack on Demeter is to have a chance of success this airbase must be destroyed. Bish has the details."

Bish punched in another command and the holo-board rematerialized as the airbase. The airbase was a huge, ugly, grey expanse occupying the surface of a similarly ugly and grey moon. In the center was a large tower and the interface brought this tower into the most prominent view.

"The airbase is defended from the local wildlife by three towers, like the one we saw on our last mission. Using the data from that mission, I built a device that will take down that tower. I call it the Icepick." Bish paused as he modified the holo-board to zoom back out to encompass both fleets again. "Because every ship in our fleet will be needed at Demeter. Full scale aerial assault is not an option. But if we take out the towers, the wildlife will finish the job, Sarah."

"Covert ops will handle the towers." She said taking center stage. "Pilots I'm asking you to guard our backs. Our fleet at Demeter is counting on us to come through. Squad leaders, we need volunteers for this mission. The probability of survival once the towers go down is slim and we can't risk a lot of our ground forces in a major assault."

MacAllan stepped up next to Sarah, "We'll reach the jumping off point in two hours. Squad leaders send all volunteers to the main Titan bay by eleven-hundred hours. All Fleet Captains, we will marshal our combined strength just out of jump range. All CVE and brickships are designated for Titanfall or troop deployment. Once the towers are down, all ships will jump into range. It is imperative that we break through the blockade as quickly as possible."

The holo-board began drawing an arrow from the 1st Militia fleet towards Demeter with a split-off going to Demeter's moon. Simultaneously, the two QRFs drew in to engage the main fleet. From the main engagement a large red circle expanded out to about a foot in length.

"We expect the engagement area to be uncharacteristically big. All ships should maintain constant alert to avoid collision. During the second stage of the operation, all Pilots on the ground will push towards the main reactor and overload the core destroying the planet."

Sarah spoke up again, "That's it people. Operation: Tiebreaker is now in effect. All volunteers will be designated as Task Force 'Flyer' while the main fleet's callsign will be 'Leviathan'. Captain Droz will command all volunteer Pilots, while the spearhead will be lead by MacAllan himself on Demeter."

"All of our fight, all of our sacrifice has bought us this one day." MacAllan's voice rang through the CIC. "Every ship in the Militia's Fleet is marshaling for the battle of Demeter. This is the IMC's fueling base that connects the Frontier to the Core systems endless supply of enemy reinforcements. It falls to us to destroy the Demeter base. I swore I would never climb back into one these things. I would never order you into the fire that I would not enter myself. I will personally take command of Sarah's covert assault squad and initiate a chain reaction of the IMC fuel cells. I ask all of you here today to engage the IMC on all fronts. If you can win this battle, you will alter the course of history! Pilots, prepare for Titanfall!"

Bish leaned over and spoke to Sarah, his voice barely audible over the applause. "They'll be no end of volunteers now."

She grinned. They were damn lucky they found him when they did. Sarah didn't want to think about what would've happened if they hadn't.

* * *

Talea met up with her squad at the clinic once the briefing was over. Chung was admitted shortly after they got back and they had cleared him while she was still at the briefing. She got off the lift and was surprised to see Vlocke leaning against the rails. He gave her a wave and nodded towards the door. Talea saw the orderly giving Vlocke a dirty look from the interior of the clinic.

"I think she really likes me." Vlocke smirked as Talea neared him.

"Hah, hardly." Talea laughed.

"Tell me," Vlocke said pivoting on the rail, "is the next place we're gonna visit going to be as fucked up as the last one?"

"Depends. They're looking for volunteers to attack an airbase around Demeter that's surrounded by the things or we can attack the main reactor on Demeter and blow up the planet."

"Well, my vote is for the one that blows shit up." He gave her a wink.

"Figured it would be. You don't seem the think for yourself type."

"Oh that hurts." Vlocke recoiled with an exaggerated look of pain.

Once she finished laughing, she sighed, "Why are you outside anyways?"

"They won't let me in while Newgton is still there. Says it disrupts the healing process."

"Why'd you have to hit him so many times?" Talea shook her head.

"I didn't know it was him! They all kinda look alike, ya know?"

"Right. You want the briefing now or later."

"Nah, give it to me after. Bart's already in there with Chung. He's a tough bastard, ain't he?"

"Damn right."

Talea left the railing and entered the clinic. The orderly narrowed her eyes at her as she passed. It was almost funny to her how much trouble Vlocke had gotten into. That's probably what she liked about him, he was never dull to be around.

She entered the main area and right away picked out Bartusky and Chung. They both wore serious expressions on their faces. The nurse was finishing the treatment of Chung's wounds. Ryn noticed her and looked up and it surprised Talea to see how tight her lips were pressed together. Bartusky gave her a deep nod and Chung looked up at her too.

"Tell her what you told me, Chung." Ryn said.

Talea looked at her and then to Chung, clearly something had happened out there.

"He saved my life." Chung said clearly not happy about it. "And between his insane ramblings, he told me he would meet me on Demeter."

Talea exhaled and took in this new piece of information. Chung looked at her with a determined face and she realized, he had already made up his mind. Ryn too by the looks of it.

When she didn't speak, Chung felt he had too. "I'm going to meet him there. Settle this, once and for all."

"I'm going with him too!" Bartusky broke in, "I've lost enough friends." She put her arm on Chung's shoulder in solidarity.

Talea crossed her arms. She had to admit, she wanted vengeance too. It was hard to argue with the two most important people on her team that were after the same thing. Vlocke even wanted to blow up the planet like the crazy son of a bitch he was. The choice seemed clear to her, they'd all go to Demeter and avenge the deaths of their fallen comrades.

"Since, its all volunteers to the airbase, I think its safe to say where we're going to end up."

"Good." Chung reclined back in the bed and let out a breath. "I can't wait to kill him again."

"Just remember one thing," Talea warned them, "our priority is the mission. We don't deviate from that unless we see him."

"No." Ryn shook her head. "No. He killed Frisko and Grissom. That bastard, has to pay for what he's done."

"No, Talea's right, Ryn." Chung said. "We have to keep our heads clear. That's what all that psycho shit he was sayin' was trying to do to us."

Bartusky withdrew her hand from his shoulder and held herself. She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. Ryn's expression as she opened her eyes was stern. "I don't care about the mission. I couldn't save Frisko and I wasn't there for Grissom. Where ever you two go, I'm going."

"Alright." With the debate concluded, she gave them the important points of the briefing. She left Ryn and Chung to go and explain it all over again to Vlocke outside. The orderly was still there, glaring at Vlocke every chance she got just in the off chance he'd try to come back in.

"Don't worry." She told the orderly as she passed her. "He's not coming back in."

"He better not." The orderly grunted.

"You know what?" Vlocke said as she came back.

"What?"

"I'm starting to think she doesn't like me after all." he gave the orderly a wave.

"You shouldn't piss them off you know."

"What? You don't think its charming?"

"Not the word I would use, no."

"That's rubbish." He held his chin in a haughty manner.

"Suit yourself." She decided not to engage in an argument that was beside the point. "Listen, there's something you should know."

"Hm, what's that?"

"Chung says that the sniper that killed Grissom is on Demeter. So we're going that way."

"You're the boss." Vlocke said stretching. "So what's the op then?"

"The volunteer task force is gonna knock out the towers surrounding the airbase and then the fleet rolls in on Demeter."

"So this is it, huh?"

"Yep. This is it."

"What was it, like a month ago we started all this as the losing side?" Vlocke asked.

"Four days." She raised her eyebrows.

Vlocke looked at her bug eyed and then scratched his beard. "Only four days? Damn, this war moves fast." He let out a big deep yawn.

"Mhmm," she suppressed her own yawn, "That's technology for you."

"So we're all off to Demeter then." Vlocke stared off into the glass.

She turned around too, watching the trails of hundreds of stars go by. Talea couldn't remember the last time she'd just watched the stars go by. Vlocke was right though about the war going by so quick. It made her think that it could be over so soon. A whole Frontier free from further IMC interference. It was a comforting thought.

"Hey, I'm gonna go check my weapons before tuckin' in." He said, his voice quivering.

It was probably just excitement. "Yeah, sure. Hey, we may get drinks later after Chung gets out. You down?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." Vlocke said as he walked off.

* * *

 _Only four days?_ Vlocke practically grappled his heart through his armor as the lift door closed. He wasn't sure what word actually got to him but the finality of Demeter terrified him. Wasn't that what he wanted? An end to all the conflict? No, that's what Briggs and Tyrena wanted. They stood for what the Militia believed in and look where that got them? Dead. He didn't believe in all that tosh. Did that make him a coward? Probably.

The lift deposited him on his level and he rushed to his room. He quickly smashed in the door code and rushed inside. His hands were shaking and he quickly swigged whatever liquid was on the desk in a desperate hope to calm himself down. Afterwards, he jiggled with the lock on his locker to open it and eventually ripped it open. He quickly holstered Lucy and slung Eve over his shoulder.

Am I _running? What am I even running from?_

His inner thoughts returned asking his conscious mind questions he didn't want to answer. Briggs and Tyrena had only died four days ago and in his grief, he hadn't even wanted to acknowledge their absence. In this moment he now realized that Talea and the others were the same way. He knew he didn't want to be there when they died. He'd lost enough friends in this conflict.

]He opened up the _Annapolis'_ extranet and pulled the briefing information onto his comm unit. It read that all volunteers were to be ready at the main launch bay by 1100 hours. He hustled not wanting to miss the only chance to get off this ship. Once he arrived, there would be nothing they could do to stop him. Vlocke had a feeling Talea might try though. He felt bad about doing this but they would understand, wouldn't they?

Vlocke got back in the lift and punched in the level for the Titan Bay. While it descended, he snapped on his helmet and gripped Eve. He breathed out, psyching himself up.

"Got Eve, get Zeke, and have a fucking good time."

The lift stopped and the doors opened to reveal a Grunt, his face mostly in bandages. Vlocke politely moved over to make room for him with a curt nod.

"Fanks." The Grunt said.

"Mhm." Vlocke replied.

The Grunt pushed a button for another floor. They stood in silence as the elevator descended towards the Titan bay.

"Fhey, ar oo Bolunteering por the operwation at da erbase?" The Grunt said holding his jaw. It sounded really painful to Vlocke. Like someone had hit him him too hard.

"Yeah."

"Oo Piwots aren't oll so bawd."

Vlocke nodded silently. Did all Grunts talk so much? He could see why this guy got punched in the face in the first place. _Fuck, why can't the lift go any faster?_

"What uh..." Vlocke made a circle motion around his face.

"Som' aswole kips pawnching mah fase." The Grunt replied.

"Hm." Why did that sound so familiar to him? He had to admit, this guy looked like he deserved it.

The lift finally arrived at his level and Vlocke went to step out, when the Grunt stopped him.

"Fhey, mah name es Nooton." The Grunt extended his hand.

Vlocke took his hand and gave it a decent shake. "Vlocke."

He left the lift and checked which way he should go but as the door to elevator door closed, he could of sworn he heard the Grunt scream in anger. Vlocke looked back at the lift and shook his head.

"Must've missed his floor."

Vlocke passed through the large hatch doors into the Titan Bay. Already there was an assembly of Pilots and Grunts and he went to join them. He checked his wrist comm for the time and saw he got here with about ten minutes to spare. There were more people here than he thought there would have been. It was probably a good thing he came then, it looked like they could use all the people they could get.

A Pilot approached him, a thick barrel chested man with his comm unit outstretched. "What unit are you from?"

Vlocke actually had to think about it for a second, and glanced at the patch on his arm to remember. "Uh, the 7th Annapolis Shadow Runners."

"Tags, please."

Vlocke pulled his tags off around his neck and handed them to the burly man. The Pilot snapped the tags into his wrist comm and entered in the data. "Your name is Vlocke Mezzani, correct?"

"Yeah, mate."

The man yanked the tags out of his wrist-comm and gave them back to Vlocke by the chain. He took his tags back and tucked them back under his chest plate.

"Okay, go ahead and stack up on Lieutenant Untez. LT! Here's your forth!" The burly man called out.

Vlocke wandered over to Lieutenant Untez. He shook his hand and Untez nodded to him and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Welcome to Dwarfstar Squad."

"Dwarf star?" Vlocke replied, a bit confused by the name.

"Squad's callsign for Tiebreaker. We're a mixture of Akimbo, Broken Star, and Defiant squad." he pointed at each of other Pilots in his squad and then to himself. "But to have a Shadow Runner be apart of us, that's quite a honor."

Vlocke just frowned, "Don't think too much about it mate, I'm just the spare man."

Untez gave him another small nod. "Still, what you guys did for the fleet on that colony. Really turned this war around. Heroes in my book."

"Alright!" A man shouted from behind. The crowd of Pilots turned to face him. "For those unfamiliar, my name is Captain Droz. We form the few lucky, crazy, unstoppable bastards that have the great task of destroying an entire IMC Airbase."

They were a few cheers and whoops.

"The entire Militia Fleet from Yuma to Dakota systems are marshaling for the greatest battles of our history! However, thats pay to play ladies and gentlemen. We gotta pay – back the IMC so our boys and girls in the main fleet can overload the reactor on Demeter and scuttle the shit out of it!"

Vlocke grinned as more cheers and fist pumps went up.

"So here's the six, Corsair, that's your's truly," Droz placed his thumb on his chest, "and Dwarfstar will Titanfall outside the enemy airbase while Eclipse and Provost escort Sarah into the base, so she can infil and bring down the towers."

Untez and the others made howls and so did another squad.

"All Grunt teams, Wolverine, Jericho, and Nighthawk will provide cover. Each of you has been given enough demo to bring down ten Ogre Titans. I want you to show the IMC that you are not to be fucked with, you hear me!"

The Grunts clapped and shouted. Droz then jumped off his crate and went over to a nearby Pilot and gave him a friendly head lock.

"Let's free the Frontier!"

Everyone in the room erupted into cacophony of celebration.

"Looks like you warmed them up, Captain." Sarah said as she moved through the crowd escorted by Bish.

"Hell yeah, Ma'am." he flashed her a grin.

Sarah turned and faced the crowd of Pilots. "Well then, let's get down there and get this fight rolling!"

"You heard the lady!" Droz shouted. "Assholes and elbows, let's get a move on!"

The other squads left the hanger to get to their dropships while Droz, Corsair and Dwarfstar stayed behind. As they left to get to their Titans Droz called over to Untez.

"Untez, try not to get stepped on by a Leviathan while we're down there!"

"Hey Droz! Can you still Pilot a Titan with those arms after losing to Sarah?"

"She's a scary lady!" he called back.

"I heard she flipped you and the table over."

"You wish Untez! See you on the ground!"

Vlocke let Zeke lift him into the cockpit. He strapped in and booted up his screen and check his systems. When he finished he noticed that Charlie was down there. Vlocke popped the top part of his cockpit open and shouted down to Charlie.

"Oi, Charlie!"

"Oi, you mate! You'se goin' down there, huh?"

"Fuck yea!"

"You're brave man, Vlocke!"

"Ya know, people keep sayin' that to me today!"

"Well let 'em! You stupid git!"

"Oh, piss off!" Vlocke articulated his Titan's fingers to form the "V" to flip off Charlie. The old man laughed and flipped Vlocke off too.

"See when you get back, arsehole." Charlie said.

"You bet, fuckah."

"Okay, hatches shut and everybody listen!" Lieutenant Untez spoke over the radio. "We're not prepped for warpfall on this one. Too many big monsters down there to risk the gravitational pull. Instead, we're doing this the old fashioned way. Once we're on the ground, everything that isn't colored green is hostile and proceed to shoot it full of holes. Copy?"

"You bet, LT!" They all chorused.

"Damn, that's spooky. No body do that anymore. We're free thinkers and life takers. Not preprocessed bodies from the IMC!"

"You're goddamn right, sir! Let's get down there already!" Vlocke hollered.

"Settle in, we'll be at the jumping off point within the hour." Untez told him.

* * *

Demeter System

1st Militia Fleet with jump range of IMC Airbase Sierra

2212, March 10th 1205h

* * *

Sho'ko stood aboard the bridge of _MCS Wolcott_ and watched as the ship finally exited the jump. It was an incredible sight. There far away was the bright orange planet of Demeter. Closer and to their 3 o'clock low was the grey moon of Demeter: Persephone, that housed the IMC's airbase Sierra.

She and Igor had been transferred together as extra hands for the time being until another ship could be ready for her old crew. Igor took to the new task readily enough, working in tandem with the other CO relaying orders. Sho'ko, kept herself out of the way, mostly observing how a well oiled military ship should run.

"Bring us about to 12 degrees starboard, 5 degrees down, ensign!" Captain Lansford ordered.

"Aye, sir! 12 degrees starboard, 5 degrees down." The helmsman complied.

As the ship altered course, Sho'ko saw an IMC carrier escorted by two Birmingham class ships just outside of the moon's orbit. Captain Lansford saw it too and began to issue new orders.

"Boost power to the forward shield, now! Ready the main cannon and target that IMC Carrier. Quick before they deploy phantoms! Boatswain get the main fleet on the horn and call in the enemy strength!"

The _Wolcott_ fired its main cannon, a bright beam from the ship's railgun burst forth striking the enemy carrier just high above its forward thrusters. There was little effect as its body shield absorbed most of the impact.

"Captain, scope reads several attack craft deploying from the carrier!"

After the Liaison finished, one of the IMC Birmingham ships returned fired, striking the _Wolcott_ right under the forward battery.

"Fire again, we need to sink it now or our Task Force is dead before it starts!" Lansford roared as he clung to the halo-board.

"Main gun firing in three, two, one!" A Liaison relayed before the _Wolcott_ 's main gun fired again, this time striking the forward left thruster of the carrier bursting it apart. The IMC carrier began to veer to its port, before secondaries ruptured its main fuel line and front half ignited. Sho'ko gasped at the spectacle. Her eyes trailed several small blue lights flash from the back half of the ship spiraling towards Demeter's moon.

"Good kill!" Lansford said to his gunner. "Reposition and let's hit those next targets."

"Aye, aye!" The bridge sounded.

* * *

"Shit, what's goin' on out there!" A Pilot remaked.

"Christ, you're a jumpy bunch," Barker's voice came in over the radio. "Sarah can't be in two places at once, so you're stuck with me on this one. I'll be handling Titan production for this operation. Don't screw with me, I got one helluva hangover. Barker out."

"Hey, that was Newgton in the –" Vlocke began.

"Standby for Titanfall!" Barker announced before he promptly dropped them.

Vlocke rocked around in his seat and outside saw his Titan fall through free space. The sight of it made him lurch. He forced himself to not vomit and had he not had his helmet on, he might've let himself spew it over the dash. Then the thrusters attached to his Titan course corrected and Vlocke bounced forward. He could see the whole of the planet before him and his stomach's discomfort rose.

As they soared towards the moon, Vlocke could see several Birmingham class ships in the distance by the moon. Smaller specks began to drawer towards them. As they came closer, Vlocke could make them out to be Phantoms.

"Flyer this is Dwarfstar, several inbound bogeys, copy?" Untez called out.

"Dwarfstar, this is Kestrel Six, moving in for the assist."

"Thanks, Kestrel Six."

From his right Vlocke saw several Hornets come into view and began to engage the incoming IMC fighters. Several streams of rockets and flares decorated their entry into the atmosphere of the planet.

"Standby for atmo." Untez announced.

"Wooo!" Someone else called out.

Vlocke shut his eyes, trying to will his stomach to not lurch just yet. He opened them for a second just in time to see a Hornet race over him. That was a mistake. He just hoped they'd be on the ground soon.

"Atmo is tee minus five seconds." Untez continued to call out. "Four, three, two, one. Mark."

Vlocke felt it immediately. The resistance from the upper atmosphere sent him rattling around in the cockpit. He was only able to mitigate it by gripping his controls even tighter.

"All Dwarfstar Tangos," Untez returned to the mike, "standby for impact in ten."

As the four Titans rocketed through the atmosphere, AOD guns from the airbase opened up trying to pick them off. Vlocke saw a lot of the rounds come dangerously close to smashing his cockpit. It was just the cherry on top of an already shitty drop.

"Steady. Eight seconds." Untez reported.

"Christ, top! They're zeroing in!" A Pilot panicked.

"Easy, two. 6 more seconds."

"Aahhh!" Dwarfstar two's mike blared then cut out.

"Four, three, two, one." Untez continued unsympathetically. "Three Tangos on the deck, Flyer. Be advised that Dwarfstar two was hit in upper atmo."

"Solid copy." A liaison said on Annapolis replied.

"Alright, move clear of the DZ! Let's go! Let's go!"

Vlocke popped open his helmet and let a stream of vomit splash around his feet. He breathed out and then snapped the helmet back together. Outside, Zeke righted himself up and hefted the XO-16 into his other hand.

He saw they had landed just off from the main tower amongst the airfield. It was full of Phantom jets on standby and already off to his right Dwarfstar Three was tearing into them, firing off a salvo of rockets into as many targets as he could.

Suddenly, smaller flaming pieces of debris began stream around him, and at once Vlocke held his Vortex shield above him and moved to shield Dwarfstar Four.

"Look out, mate!" Vlocke practically collided with the other Titan.

He caught part of Dwarfstar Two's arm in his Vortex, while the main body smashed into a Phantom some twenty meters away. The resulting explosion smashed into Vlocke nearly taking out his body shield.

"Thanks man." The friendly Pilot said.

Vlocke threw the arm at another Phantom, wrecking it. "Sure thing."

The radio was suddenly alive as the other callsigns began to engage the enemy.

 _This is Tucan One, Tucan Five collided with a Leviathan. I say again, we've lost Tucan Five._

 _Tucan Five was Provost's bird. Provost, this is Corsair One, do you read? Provost do you read? All callsigns be advised, we have four Pilots KIA._

 _Jericho Five, do you have a fix on Sarah's position, over?_

 _Negative, Wolverine, she's moving too fast and there's too much interference from the towers._

 _Keep trying, Jericho Five, I can't get our guys to cover her if I can't see her on the scope._

"Ain't this just a lovely mess." Vlocke mumbled to himself.

He sighted a couple of Goblin dropships and put ordinance into them as well as some chain-gun rounds. When the dust settled he kept moving forward. The whole airbase was really something. It seemed to just stretch on for miles. In fact, the airfield itself was covered in more aircraft he'd ever seen in his lifetime.

An explosion rocked his chassis and he pivoted Zeke in that direction. Just beyond the airfield was a platoon of Paladin tanks, firing off their twin barrels. He caught the next barrage in his Vortex Shield and sent the two rounds back into the tank they came from. Vlocke frowned as his standard rocket barrage wasn't a lock on, he could only accurately penetrate their armor with their own shells that he caught.

Dwarfstar Three painted them and sent his Slaved Salvo into the other two tanks before they could regroup. Each of the main battle tanks stopped dead in their tracks, smoke rising from the tops of their hatches.

"You good, Dwarfstar Four?"

"Yeah!" Vlocke grunted.

"Alright, let's get off the airfield and converge on the main facility." Untez directed them.

The three Titans regrouped and together they pushed towards the large facility before them. Vlocke still took advantage of destroying a dropship or Phantom every now and again just to feel like he was contributing.

"Save the ammo, Three." Untez told him. "Once the towers go down, the wildlife will finish the job."

Vlocke groaned but stopped.

He looked up to see how the space battle was going. From what he could see between the gaps in the thick grey sky were multiple ships trading salvos. There was half of an IMC carrier even, that was slowly falling from the sky.

Vlocke suddenly lost his breath for a moment. In his mind, the image reminded him of when the _Red Eye_ went down. He froze at the controls and his Titan stopped moving. Images of the _Red Eye_ flashed as it swung overhead cascading over the edge of the cliff into a valley below. It wasn't a good way to go and now those poor sods up there were about to be cooked in the atmosphere.

"Let's move Four! We don't got all day!" Untez shouted.

Vlocke blinked, coming out of his trance. He put Zeke back in gear and caught up with the rest of the squad. There was small arms fire coming from in front of them. It was a squad of Spectres set up on a maintenance building. The bullets from their rifles barely affecting the body shields of their Titans. Untez let fly a cluster missile just through the large hanger doors of the maintenance building. The several explosions blew out of the walls and structure collapsed, taking the Spectres with it.

They were a klick away from the main base now. It was obvious from the huge swath of wreckage strewn about from multiple destroyed IMC combat vehicles. From this distance, Vlocke could see two Titans using the the wall to the facility as cover. At intervals they would fire through the breach into the facility.

"Corsair, this Dwarfstar. Coming up on your six, over." Untez announced to the friendly Titan Pilots.

"Copy that, Dwarfstar." Droz replied. "We've encountered multiple grenadier squads dug in just inside the facility pinning down Nighthawk. I need your team to provide assist, while we unpin them, over?"

"Solid copy on all. I've got three Charlie Mavericks ready for tasking." Untez said, referring to his cluster missiles.

"Roger that," Droz said, "I believe they're a squad of Spectres being Pilot directed from somewhere inside the hanger to our nine o'clock."

"Yep, we'll get 'em." Untez broke radio procedure. "Four, you and I will clear the hanger. Three, assist Corsair squad."

"Yeah top, I'm on it." Three replied, setting his Quad rocket atop the breached wall and firing his pod of rockets right into a sniper's nest.

"Four, use your Vortex to push inside, I'll be right behind you."

Vlocke activated his Vortex and pushed into the breach. Almost immediately, Archer rockets and bullets, as well as AA shells stuck to the Vortex. The sheer amount of it was draining its output too fast and he launched it back, scoring a couple hits on the slow moving infantry. His Titan still received a lot of damage, and once again his body shield came close to failing.

Untez dropped a shield wall in front of him as soon as he could to take the pressure off of Vlocke. Each impact on the shield wall turned the blue shield, a hue of orange. Relieved, from having to defend himself, Vlocke sighted a Spectre unit emerge onto the catwalk with an Archer. A quick burst from his XO ripped the robot into bits.

"Quick inside, the wall won't hold!" Untez urged him on and Vlocke moved Zeke inside. The sky flushed orange as the falling carrier detonated in the atmosphere. The sound of the crack was huge and if Vlocke wasn't inside his Titan, he was sure it would've deafened him.

"Holy, that was only two hundred klicks off too!" Three exclaimed over the radio.

"Left side by the wall!" Untez called out.

Vlocke spotted the Pilot who was wall running along the Hanger's wall trying and escape. They were just slightly quicker than Vlocke could lead his XO. Untez fired his 40mm punching a hole in the wall in front of the IMC Pilot and they jumped off the wall. While the Pilot was traveling in mid air, Vlocke was able to close up the distance and tagged the Pilot in the abdomen.

"Corsair, Pilot directed fire should be at a minimum now."

"Yep, I see several mechanized foot mobiles falling back from their positions. Good work, Dwarfstar."

"Alright! Rally on me Dwarfstar Tangos, let's keep on the pressure!"

* * *

"Sir! More enemy ships jumping in!" A Liaison warned.

Sho'ko saw lansford chuckle at the sight of a dozen new IMC ships warping. She wasn't sure why or how he was so composed. Either way though, she was grateful for it.

"Use the debris for cover, we'll pop and squat. Maintain clear lines of sight and watch for proximity warp signatures. We don't want them to flank us!" Lansford dealt out his orders.

A series of 'aye ayes' went around the bridge and the crew continued to work feverishly. Igor was overseeing the AA batteries, staving off the last of the enemy carrier's Phantoms. Sho'ko saw the shadow of a smile upon his face as he worked. _He really does like this._

"Captain." A petty officer approached her with a tablet. She took it and looked over the contents. There was shortage of power reaching parts of the main gun. She looked back up to the petty officer. "It must have been damage from the first salvo we took."

"I thought the shield absorbed that impact." Aubrey observed. "Get in contact with engineering and resolve it. Captain Lansford needs all the power he can get out of that gun."

"Aye, Ma'am." The Petty Officer took off to investigate.

She looked back towards the bridge and caught Igor grinning. Aubrey shook her head and mouthed to him: you're a prick. His grin turned to a smile and he went back to work. _God, I hope he doesn't think I'm enjoying this._ Being this close to actual combat was more stressful than she thought it was going to be. She preferred her graphs and experiments to this, of course.

"Shutters up." Lansford ordered.

The windows surrounding the bridge were concealed by heavy metal shutters. A second after it was finished there was a delay and an visual representation of the outside world was displayed on the shutters.

"All Task Force vessels," Lansford continued to belt out instructions, "Be advised that IMC Quick Response Fleets have entered our AO. Coordinates are as follows: X-ray 01135, Yankee 02417, Zulu 66311. Plot vectors to compensate for debris."

"Roger _Wolcott._ " Another fleet Captain acknowledged. " _Livingston,_ punch in that vector and see if you can roll up on that flank. Happy hunting!"

"Roger that, jumping in five." The _Livingston's_ captain responded.

"Helmsman bring us to this nav and position on that target's port side." Lansford directed, sending a coordinate from his holo-board to the Helmsman's console.

"Aye, sir!"

"We need to keep that drop window clear!" Lansford restated.

There was a series of proximity alarms. Sho'ko quickly spun her head to look at the console close by. There was a large red ship icon flashing on the screen. The world dove forward and Aubrey braced herself against a railing to steady herself, as the helmsman instinctually pulled out of the way of the oncoming collision.

The alarms continued as the ship made a creaking groan. Sho'ko was sure she never had to handle the _Montana_ this way in all the months she had commanded it but she'd never been in a major battle before.

"Report!" Lansford ordered.

"Front half of the _Hopkins_ sir!" A liaison reported.

"How the hell did it get here!?"

"Unknown, sir." The liaison continued to scan the _Hopkin's_ sector.

"We're out of the collision zone." The helmsman reported a second before the alarms ceased.

"Christ, just what is happening out there?" Lansford asked rhetorically.

Sho'ko looked back down at her instruments monitoring the amount of energy reaching the _Wolcott's_ main gun. The massive railgun was still not getting the full amount needed to really punch through the enemy armor. She hoped that the Petty Officer she sent down was able to get it fixed.

Aubrey looked over at another monitor that was pinging the placements of all ships in the AO. The amount of ships had almost tripled from before. Their formations began to loosely resemble two heads trying to eat each other. Green and Silver ships now formed battle lines in the shape of semi-concentric circles, broken by fields of debris from fallen ships. Triangles would continue to blip all over the scope as other ships would jump into the ever expanding battle zone. Sho'ko looked up from the monitor and saw the blackness of space occasionally pierced by bright red spears of light.

"Flyer, this is Leviathan." Bish's voice cut in through the chaos.

"Go ahead, Leviathan." The Task Force's Commander replied over the comms.

"What's your status?"

"Holding." The Commander replied.

"Understood. Sarah's hacked two of the towers so far and the ground assault is definitely working. Continue to put pressure on all IMC vessels."

"Like that's hard." Lansford said aloud. "Gunner, ready another salvo. We'll ram it down their throats!"

"Shot, ready!"

Lansford gripped the holo-board as the _Wolcott_ moved from behind a debris field lining up a shot on an enemy Colombia-class ship. He slowly arched over as if he could just see from just under the ruined hull they were using for cover.

"Standby... fire!"

"Shot out!" The gunner relayed.

The bright red spear flashing out over the darkness pierced the enemy Colombia-class ship right through its port side. The helmsman quickly moved to put the _Wolcott_ back into cover. Lansford was already manipulating the holo-board looking for another target of opportunity. The large cube projection was showing each ship in three dimensional space.

"Captain!" A liaison shouted out. "Two IMC Bombers with Phantom escorts! Coming in deep 1 o'clock!"

"Where's our fighter cover?" Lansford growled already searching for the answer himself on the holo-board.

Next to Sho'ko the Comms Officer was already relaying the request. "All available Hornets, this is the _Wolcott_. We are being engaged by enemy Bombers at grid X-ray 01225, Yankee 80025, Zulu 30149! Dropping nav-point to confirm..." They went on relaying the message over again.

"Uhh, _Wolcott_ , this is Kestrel Six. I've got four mavericks and uhh, 190 rounds. Ready for tasking, over."

"Solid copy, Kestrel Six." The Comms Officer began to feed him the coordinates of the incoming bombers.

"Roger that. Moving in to engage."

Sho'ko watched as the Comms Officer swapped into another transmission. As a former captain of a science vessel and civilian transport, she was surprised with how calm the man was relaying all this. If the Hornet pilot should fail, the bombers could take out the bridge. Aubrey looked around and saw that most of the bridge staff didn't even have helmets on. Which was a worrying sight to her, of the shutters were breached.

Slowly, she leaned over to catch more of the radio chatter coming from the battle outside. _Curiosity killed the cat, right?_ Sho'ko said to herself but if she was going to die, for some reason she felt like she'd want to know about it.

 _… Fox one, fox one._

 _Good hit. Scratch one bomber._

 _Uhh, do you see that bogey?_

 _Six-two, roger, I'm on him._

 _I – I can't shake him. Do you have a lock?_

 _Negative, negative. Popping flares!_

 _Six-one, where are you six-one! Talk to me. Flyer, this is Kestrel Six-two, Six-one is gone._

The prox alarms blared again. Sho'ko looked up towards the shutters to see an object coming towards them on direct impact. Lansford swung his arm towards the rear door of the room.

"All personal, evacuate the bridge! Deck gunners target that craft now!"

As the craft came into focus, Sho'ko could see that it was a damaged Hornet. Something must be wrong because the pilot was neither communicating with the bridge or pulling up to avoid impact. A hand grasped her by the arm and saw that Igor was pulling her out of the bridge.

She and Igor left the bridge and the Comms Officer shut the door behind them, sealing the bridge. Aubrey's mouth hung open in a gasp. Lansford was going to die in there. Lansford's XO began directing all the personal to the CIC and secondary bridge positions. Alarms and lights went off for safety personnel to respond to the bridge.

"Lansford's still in there." She said shocked.

"I know, Captain." Igor replied calmly. "When its all clear, they'll unseal the bridge but we can't risk collapsing the whole deck."

Suddenly, there was a huge impact from the bridge and a terrible scrapping noise that tore at her ear drums. Then a moment later, a dull thud could be heard. Her eyes were wide with horror. If the Hornet had somehow breached the shutters.

The door unsealed and entire crew outside seemed to breath a collective sigh of relief. Sho'ko could hear Captain Lansford inside yelling into his comms.

"Goddamn, fly boys and their fucking shit!" Lansford livid demeanor was quickly fading and soon he returned to his usual calm. "Childs! Get that wreck removed now. Solid shooting deck guns."

A Liaison turned around in front of Sho'ko and promptly left the bridge. She saw for herself how close the Hornet had come to smashing into the shutters. The wreck was smashed into the forward area, the tail of the fighter now partially obscuring the view of the battle.

"Captain." Lansford turned to Sho'ko.

"Yes, sir." She said in a knee-jerk.

"No, need for that. As appreciated as it may be." He said politely. "This battle isn't going well up here."

Lansford manipulated the holo-board to reveal the whole sector around the moon and Demeter. She saw the now growing portion of IMC ships. It was hard to tell them apart but there were both 9th and 21st Demeter QRF's.

"You see," Lansford continued, "we got their attention but if our Titan Pilots on the ground can't take out those towers. This operation is dead before even get to Demeter and worst part of it all, is that we can't even use this frigate's main cannon to help them because all our strength is needed for the real fight at Demeter."

The old man let out a sigh and then composed himself. Sho'ko appreciated his canid nature in times like this. She pointed to their ship on the map.

"Where's the damage from the bomber?"

"Here, just below the forward gun section." Lansford pulled the holo-board in close to zoom in on their damage. "Kestrel Six was good enough to pull their fire long enough for us to take out some of the escort but the main torpedo struck us here."

"The shaft is damaged, we can't risk firing anymore." She saw clearly.

"Indeed, we'll have to pull back around another ship and provide AA support. If we live that long."

Sho'ko could feel her face get pale.

"Bish, I've made it to the access point of the north tower. Light resistance so far, but the bulk of their forces are occupied." Sarah's point relayed to the entire Task Force.

"Copy that, Sarah," Bish replied, "all callsigns, keep taking out the IMC forces."

* * *

Zeke stacked another drum into the XO-16 and Vlocke wheeled his Titan back around to take out the AA gun pinning them down. The AA gun ruptured sending one of the barrels cart-wheeling away.

"This is the bulk of their forces?" Vlocke wondered aloud.

"Seems like." Dwarfstar Three replied sending a salvo into the lower structure of the AA gun collapsing it. Several IMC Grunts ran from the cascade of falling rubble, only to be picked off by Untez.

"It doesn't matter," Untez declared, "all that matters is that we keep the IMC occupied. In a battle such as this, it doesn't matter where you aim!"

Vlocke flicked a mad grin. He flipped the red cap off his controls and pressed down, firing off another salvo of his rocket barrage. They flew wildly striking both the ground and buildings nearby. It didn't accomplish anything but it made Vlocke happy.

"Remember Four, we still need to conserve our fire. You only have so many rockets left." Untez scolded him.

"Damn. You see those Leviathans in the distance. They're gonna get closer, huh?" Dwarfstar Three changed the subject.

Vlocke dreaded to look. This whole mission, he'd put the nasty monsters as far from his thoughts as he could. Yet, he couldn't resist and gave it a quick peak and regretted it immediately.

"I think those are a bit much for you and me. Eh, Zeke?" Vlocke patted the roof of the cockpit.

"Listen up," Untez called them, "we're rallying up on Wolverine to provide assist. They've encountered enemy Titans and are pinned."

"Sounds like us to unpin the infantry, eh top?" Dwarfstar Four snickered.

"Well how about this, Three? If they die, the IMC will have less to shoot at." Untez shot back.

"Yeah, okay. Right." Three's tone turned to a mumble.

"They're about a klick south of us inside an underground hanger. Let's move Dwarfstar!"

The three of them moved up the strip of road that lead past the single AA gun. It's now smoldering ruin, devoid of any enemy fire. There was sporadic small arms fire but their shields held and the 20 foot Titans continued to march forward.

When they reached a fuel hub building, Untez, who was in the lead, paused before an entrance that lead deeper into the facility. The Atlas Titan, pivoted inward and dropped its deployable shield. Several rockets cascaded against the wall, turning its tint orange.

"Figured as much. Three, get in there and clear them out."

"You bet." Dwarfstar Three replied eagerly and boosted past Vlocke to get inside the facility.

His quad rockets wreaked havoc on the defenders. The blasts sending several Grunts and Paladin tanks into the air. When he had finished, the three of them pushed forward to clear the area.

"I'm glad to see you, Dwarfstar!" Wolverine's Squad Leader greeted them.

"Your message said something about Titans..." Untez began.

Several 40mm blasts smashed into the underground hanger sending him spiraling back. Dwarfstar Three reeled backward to adjust his aim for a Titan coming down from an above hole. It was no use and the enemy Ogre smashed into him. The weight of it crushing Dwarfstar Three's Stryder chassis with ease. Three's arm dropped outstretched towards Vlocke.

In the Ogre's hands was a weapon Vlocke hadn't seen before and it fired out an arc of energy. The energy zapped Untez's Titan and then jumped toward Wolverine bursting the closest Grunts. Another Titan then descended, landing on the ground just behind the first. An Atlas with a 40mm cannon, then sent shells rocking Zeke with fire until he brought up his Vortex Shield to sent it back.

The return was clumsy and most of the 40mm shells collided with the Ogre, which shrugged off most of the fire. Vlocke persisted and sent more automatic fire from his chaingun into the Ogre's massive chassis. The Ogre is silent reply, simply charged up the energy weapon again and in a panic, Vlocke fired out the last his rockets to stave off the attack. At the last moment, the enemy Atlas reached in front and collected the rockets in his Vortex shield and sent them flying back into Vlocke.

Zeke was sent reeling and crashing into one of the elevated platforms. Vlocke swore and desperately looked around for Untez. The lieutenant had been absent from most of the combat engagement. When Vlocke finally spotted him, shockingly it was bent over as if it had been hit by an EMP.

"What kind of fucking weapon is that!?" Vlocke asked aloud.

The support beams of the platform burst with bright blue light and one of the stray beams of energy smashed into his Titan's left arm disabling it. A breaker box on his left, blew and the cover dangled about. Vlocke pulled back and forth on the controls of the left arm to avail. There wasn't time to reset the box and get the arm functioning again.

He recovered as best he could, there back in the distance Untez's Titan received a cannon to the cockpit. All Vlocke could do was watch as Untez was destroyed. He tried to hit them with his XO-16 but without the other arm, it was wildly unstable. When the feed went dry, Vlocke tossed the gun aside.

"Well, I guess I picked the perfect place to die, eh Zeke?"

With abandon and no hope left for survival, Vlocke charged the opposing Titans. The Atlas opened up on him, striking the support beams as he ran. Vlocke grabbed at his other Titan's arm and with an effort managed to rip part of it off. The enemy Ogre was already firing up another salvo of its EMP blast when Vlocke smashed it with his Titan's forearm. It ripped the top of the Ogre's hatch off, revealing the Pilot beneath.

"There's the squishy center!" Vlocke howled.

The enemy Atlas fired another round destroying the forearm before Vlocke could deliver the final blow. Momentum lost, Zeke struggled to stand and collapsed onto one knee. He covered his face as sparks flew inside his cockpit. It was over.

"Son of a bitch that close." The enemy Pilot exclaimed from what was rest of his Titan's cockpit.

"Yeah, no kidding." The other replied, replenishing its box of 40mm.

As the 40mm was placed against his cockpit, Vlocke grabbed the barrel.

"Well... this is it old friend. Let's do this, one last time!" Vlocke said punching in the code for a nuclear meltdown of his core. Suddenly, his cockpit made another sporadic burst of lights like before. Vlocke looked around shocked and confused.

"Goodbye... Pilot." The female onboard AI told him.

"What the fuck!" Vlocke exclaimed before suddenly being rocketed into the sky rushing past an opening of the underground hanger. Below him, Zeke was wreathed in bright blue light as the core melted.

"ZEEKEE!" Vlocke screamed before Zeke's nuclear reactor overloaded throwing the underground hanger into a huge explosion. A large part of what was the roof, cracked and then fell burying it all in rubble. Vlocke was so devastated that he almost forgot to boost before landed and he hit the top of a building.

The impact sent him rolling and his jumpkit sent pain up his back. In his tumble his helmet hit some protrusion of the building. He rolled off the side of the building and landed face first onto the cement. Vlocke with an effort pushed himself up to his feet. He snapped off his broken helmet and threw it onto the ground. There was no need for it anymore.

"You bastards!" He yelled towards the smoking remains of the giant hole that now remained of the landing pad before him.

He heard some commotion from inside the building next to him. Vlocke, with rage inside him, kicked the door open with his good foot. It swung off its hinges and the surprised Grunts inside turned to face him. With Eve, now in his grip, he cut them down. Smacking in a new drum each time she ran empty. Round after round, he fired into each of them. And to Vlocke's surprise he didn't feel any better. In fact, his grief only worsened.

"You took everything from me!" Vlocke bellowed at the retreating Grunts.

A Grunt tripped in his escape from him and Vlocke sent him spinning against the wall with a kick and then a shot to the head. He hastily reloaded Eve, the drum fumbling in his hands. They were shaking uncontrollably. Finally, it connected and pulled back on Eve's charging handle.

"My friends!"

An IMC Marine managed to tag him in the shoulder and it impeded his approach for only a moment. In his mind, he saw Briggs and Tyrena, and his anger swelled, propelling him forward. The Grunts retreated up a stairwell, tossing over equipment and tables in order to fortify their position against his unrelenting assault.

"My Titan!" Vlocke screamed.

Eve ran out of ammo and Vlocke turned her around whacked the nearest Grunt with the butt of her stock. As the hit collided with the Grunt, he released her. Her final act commemorating her service to what she did best. Vlocke took another step and his left foot burned in pain. He must landed on it funny after he ejected. Regardless, he continued. If this was the end, then he wouldn't stop till he or the enemy were dead.

At the bottom of the stairs, the IMC Grunts opened up on him. Most of their attack missed, ripping the equipment behind him apart. Vlocke pulled out Lucy, his Wingman revolver, from her holster and put a quick round into one of the defenders skull.

When they had ceased firing, Vlocke took his chance to run up the stairs. His bad collided with a Grunt's shoulder and the pain ruined his landing. He landed on his back back his anger kept him going. In the midst of the Grunts, he fired the last five shots of Lucy as best he could.

Then, he righted himself up and the last two injured Grunts took him on. The first one tried to shoot him with his 101C but Vlocke quickly pulled it front him and whacked him with the butt of the rifle, under his chin. The second fired off a round striking Vlocke in the back. Vlocke spun around and fired the last of the carbine into the IMC Marine. Before the man fell, he threw the carbine aside and ran into the Grunt. Using the last of his strength and his fury he shoved the dying man out the window. Vlocke dropped to his knees and then painfully fell back and watched the battle rage outside.

At that moment, he saw several Phantoms from the airfield slowly take off into the air. At first, he thought the IMC were finally going airborne to attack the fleet but they changed course. They formed three different groups and each struck out towards one of the towers on the base.

He laughed weakly. Sarah must've completed her mission then. They had done it. He watched as the three towers were racked with explosions and slowly collapsed. It was beautiful. Seeing those pinnacles of IMC dominance crash and fall towards the ground was such a wonderful sight. The pain hurt but Vlocke found that in this wonderful sight, he could breath easy again.

Then Vlocke heard the screeches and the loud sounds of the creatures triumphantly calling in the distance. With the dog whistle towers gone, they now returned to reclaim the IMC airbase. He closed his eyes and let himself fall the rest of the distance to the floor. Despite all these new developments. Vlocke wasn't afraid and found that he was actually quite calm.

 _It was a good run, eh Zeke?_

He opened his eyes again and there was a Pilot above him. She had an ethereal glow in the light of the explosions. Vlocke wanted to shield his eyes from the light to see her clearly but he was so tired, he just laid there instead.

"Are you a – Valkyrie?" He said mystified and drowsy.

Then he passed out.

* * *

"All Flyer vessels," Bish's voice filled the comms, "Sarah has downed the towers and is in transit in an IMC dropship. Be advised, do not fire on any IMC dropships in the AO until Sarah has been confirmed, over."

"She did it." Lansford said calmly but Sho'ko herself wanted to just empty her lungs with a deep sigh.

"Understood, Leviathan." The Task Force Commander acknowledged. "All Flyer vessels, make ready to engage all remaining IMC stragglers in the path to Demeter but do not target any IMC dropships. I say again, do not engage any IMC dropships at this time. Any Flyer Vessels without combat ability standby to receive away dropships, over."

" _Wolcott_ , copies. Ready to receive outbound dropships." Lansford replied over the comms.

" _Wolcott_ , this is _Livingston_."

" _Livingston_ , go ahead." Lansford received.

"Drop to grid, X-ray 22011, Yankee 24123, Zulu 67351. The main fleet's rolling in to mop up, over."

"Understood, _Livingston_ , we'll standby for dropship retrieval at that grid, out."

Lansford clicked off the mic and looked at the shutters. The whole space between their ship and the airbase on Persephone was littered with debris and hulks of space craft. It had been a fierce fight and Aubrey was glad to be out of the fray. She saw that Lansford was looking out the window with a sombre look.

"Comms Officer, as soon as the AO is clear of enemy vessels, put out a wire for all RTB dropships to pick up any survivors. Ours and theirs, understood?"

"Aye, sir!" They replied.

"Captain, we're in position." The Helmsman relayed.

"Alright, standby." Lansford ordered the Helmsman.

The bridge got quiet as everyone settled in awaiting the main fleet to arrive. Next to her, the Comms Officer continued to monitor traffic. It was pretty slow as most of the ships not damaged already, returned to the fray to engage and target the last of the IMC stragglers. Most of the IMC ships, she saw began to disengage the Militia Fleet and to make for Demeter.

Aubrey saw Lansford note their positions on the holo-board. She shivered at the thought of being in one of those pods, alone drifting through space. Sho'ko realized that a lot about space was becoming unappealing to her. Seeing all this destruction made her miss reading the outputs from a soil composition sample.

There were more blue flashes and Aubrey looked up to see several Militia ships warp in. Several of the IMC ships were already making their way to regroup on Demeter but those that stood and fought were struck by several blasts from the arriving fleet.

"Great work, people." MacAllan's voice entered the comm waves, "We'll be at Demeter within the hour. It's time for the main event. Bish patch me into the IMC."

There was a break in the transmission. Aubrey held her breath waiting for what was to happen next.

"You read me graves?" MacAllan said. Another pause. "You know what's coming. All-out assault. Doesn't have to go-down like this."

The whole bridge was quiet, that Aubrey could hear the faint hum of the ship. Seconds seemed to go by before there was an answer.

"A lot's changed in the fifteen years you wore this uniform, Mac. I won't let you walk away this time." Vice-admiral Graves responded.

"Have you really made a difference in the IMC, Marcus? Or did you become another company man along the way? All I see is bloodshed. I don't see any change."

The bridge of the _Wolcott_ broke the silence with a round of claps and whoops.

"Then, we'll let the end game decide – who's right, and who's dead." The IMC's Vice-Admiral stated before severing the connection.

Lansford got on the horn once more, "Leviathan – MacAllan. You're the best we got, give 'em hell, sir!"

The crew turned to their Captain, grins on all their faces and several claps. Lansford's normally pale face, turned slightly red and the old space Captain smiled sheepishly.

"That was history, boys and girls, you don't get another chance to capitalize on the moment." He cleared his throat.

Sho'ko jumped up in her seat and shouted, "Give 'em hell!"

The crew cheered and Aubrey saw Igor shake his head but his grin was ear to ear and his hands were clapping hard. Afterwards, Igor came over and said to her quietly.

"I think you just gave him his new moniker: Captain William 'Give 'em hell' Lansford."

Aubrey stifled a laugh. She had meant the phrase actually but either way she was fine with it.

* * *

Vlocke bolted up right. All around him was dark and quiet. A deep wail sung in the distance and he turned to see what it was. Standing tall over the airbase was a Leviathan, it's close proximity and great height made Vlocke feel dizzy again.

Then he remembered he was facing a window before, but he was now on the lower landing. He had been moved but by what? Concerned now for his well being, he searched around for an explanation and then made sure all his limbs were attached. Thankfully, they were and the pain in his side was dull and throbbing. Vlocke reached for the wound and the bloody hole he should have in his lower back but it was patched.

Someone had pulled him away and patched him up. One of the Grunts perhaps or another Pilot but where were they now? Then his mind flashed and he remembered the Pilot he saw. Had she pulled him from that building? His mind was foggy and he couldn't recall if she was wearing Greens or Grays. She had to be wearing Greens, otherwise she would've left him to die, right?

There was a clunk of metal hitting the ground and Vlocke scuttled up to his feet, more startled then anything else. There was a light on the ground flickering through the door way, eventually followed by a person stepping into view.

The woman gasped as her light shined in his face. Vlocke covered his face to shield himself from its brightness. She pulled the light down and began to walk towards him.

"You're awake!" She said excitedly but in a hushed voice.

"Yeah, I just wo-" He began to say aloud but the woman dropped the light to her side and put a finger to her mouth to shush him. Vlocke saw that she was wearing IMC colors.

"Not so loud, yeah?" She hissed as she withdrew an RE-45 from her hip.

He took a step back on his bad foot and stumbled. The IMC Pilot took a step forward to catch him with her other hand. She caught him by the wrist, preventing him from falling over, but when he was stable he wrenched his hand from hers.

"Get off! I don't need your help." he said defensively.

"Wot? Are you serious?" She said, her voice rising. "I saved your bloody life!"

"Well, I didn't bloody ask you to, did I?" Vlocke retorted.

"Alright, alight." She said quietly and calm, holstering the sidearm.

The Pilot went over to a workbench and pulled up a cracked helmet that Vlocke realized was his as she got closer. She offered it to him.

"It's a bit cracked," She continued, "but your friends up there are doing a search and rescue. So the way I see it is, I help you get there, you help me get out of here."

Vlocke scoffed. "Do I have a choice?"

"Not entirely, no." She admitted.

The enemy pilot pulled back her hood, revealing an unraveling bun of brown hair and pulled down her mask. She struck Vlocke as entirely shiny. Not like before, when she stood in the lights of explosions but in how entirely crisp her uniform was. Her stance even contributed to the overall impression that she was unfamiliar with taking prisoners. It really gave him no confidence at all in his chances in getting out of here.

"I should warn you though, I don't particularly care for living right now." Vlocke began to hobble past her.

"Listen, outlaw," She gripped him by the shoulder, "I made a friend a promise and I intend to keep it."

"Shouldn't make promises." he tried to shrug her hand off but she wouldn't let go.

"Listen, you!" She began but Vlocke just pointed behind her.

A fearsome spiked, thing was creeping in along the walls. It's face was thin but along its jowls, were long black spikes with yellow trim. The thing's eyes were focused on the the IMC Pilot's back. In an act of desperation Vlocke grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around.

"Hey! Oh shit!" She cried and grabbed her slung Longbow and began to fire at the creature. The first two rounds missed as the creature leapt from the wall to the next, closing the distance to its next meal. She continued to press the attack and finally scored a hit on its abdomen.

The monster roared in pain dropping from the wall onto the floor before launching itself again into the air. The other Pilot dropped her Longbow and swapped out to her RE-45 firing the whole magazine into the monster. The thing collapsed to the floor breathing its last. She quickly popped out the 45's mag and replaced it, then put it back into her holster. Vlocke thought she had finished with the thing but she pulled out her Longbow again and sunk another round into the monster's skull.

She turned around, wiping sweat from her face. "The others will have heard that. We have to go now."

Vlocke saw as she said this, that she was in the process of taking the scope off her rifle. She tucked the scope into another pouch and flipped up the iron sights. That seemed a smart move, make it more close quarters capable. He was deeply regretting tossing Eve aside now.

"Fine, we'll do it your way." He relented. The alternative was end up in some monster's belly.

"Thought you might." She said in a cheerfully coquettish tone. "Here."

She handed him the RE-45, magazine-side first. Vlocke took it and felt the weight of the thing.

"The Pickup Zone is about two clicks from here right by the hangers nearest the airfield." She began leading them towards one of the doorways out of the building. "From here, in the traffic control tower its about two klicks north. Easy as cake."

"First off," Vlocke said to her, "you're the shiniest person I've ever met. Second, I hate cake."

She looked back at him as she leaned against the doorway, "You're not the first person to say that to me." Then she exited the building.

Vlocke stared at the doorway and then to his helmet still in his hands. Then he tossed it aside, "To say which one?"

He grunted as he neared the doorway and peeked out. The other Pilot was crouching low as she used a large air cooler for cover. She held out her arm, signaling him to stay where he was. He looked up, following the direction of where she was looking and saw several flyers soar above them. One of them had an IMC Grunt in their talons. Vlocke gave a hard swallow as he watched the poor bastard get ripped in two as the other Flyers fought over him.

 _Christ, this was a really stupid idea._

He saw her shake her head solemnly, "Come on, let's go."

Vlocke followed her and every so often he would check the skies for one of those flyers. He didn't want to end up a snack. They got to the edge of the roof and she quickly boosted over the side and took cover behind another cooler. It was an easy twelve foot jump. Vlocke could make that distance easy, even with his hurt foot. He hobbled towards the edge of the roof and boosted.

To his horror, only one booster fired and he spun in the air. His vision spun round and round until by a miracle he smashed into the side of the wall. His face hurt and his chest absorbed a good amount of the impact due to the Pilot armor. He scratched and scraped against the wall.

"Agh, shiiit!" he called.

The IMC Pilot appeared over the side and grabbed one his arms. Her face was bright red with effort. Vlocke tried to find purchase with his feet but they kept slipping. He actively tried to not think about how far down the drop was going to be.

"On... three," She said with effort, "Boost!"

"Are you crazy!?" He yelled.

"Just do it!" She said as her hands began to slip.

He panicked and boosted. Vlocke swung up to the right again but she held onto him and he swung up over the side. In mid-swing, he saw how far down he would've fallen. A frighteningly far distance and he was happy he wasn't going down there. Then he smashed into an air cooler.

His head rang and his eyes wouldn't focus. The IMC Pilot was over him and she unbuckled the faulty booster and tossed it aside. Vlocke tried to focus on her, but there were three of her and he didn't know which one was the real one so he decided to track all three of them at once.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" She asked.

He tried to steady himself, her image kept spinning around so he settled on all of them. "Nine."

All three of her frowned and Vlocke took that to mean he was wrong, "What day of the week is it?"

"T – Tuesday." He mumbled.

"Okay, you'll be fine." Her hands gripped his head looking for bleeding.

He felt her hands over his scalp and through his line of hair. Then she got up and grabbed him by the straps of his chest armor and dragged him away from the cooler. The Pilot then laid him down on the roof and checked her watch.

"Damnit. We don't have long. Where's your helmet? Did it fall off?"

"I... left it." He said steading his woozy head.

"Oh, you arse! Your communique chip was still in it!"

"Was it?" He blinked and stared at the sky.

The Pilot let out a frustrated groan and picked him up again. She slung an arm over her shoulder and began to drag him again. "You're almost completely useless."

"Listen," He mumbled. "I've been shot, punched, ejected, slammed and thrown. Not exactly... a good day."

"Right. Well, if you wouldn't mind makin' it easier – it would be much appreciated." She shifted his weight.

They came to a stairwell that led down to a road. The road lead back up towards the control tower, they had just left and the other portion lead north towards the airfields he had come from earlier. She spotted a door some feet away and made her way towards it, Vlocke was doing his best to not slow her down.

Eventually, the two of them entered the door way and she gently dropped him as she scanned the room with her flashlight. It was a maintenance room for aircraft parts. There were a few fold out chairs and Vlocke got up to get into one. The IMC Pilot satisfied the room wasn't full monsters, pulled up her wrist-comm and looked up the layout of the base.

"So tell me, Bonehead, why not just take my chip when you had the chance?" Vlocke asked, plunking himself into a seat.

"Harper." She said quickly, still studying the layout.

"What?" Vlocke said leaning over.

She sighed and put the wrist-comm down, "My name is Harper. Not Shiny. Not Bonehead. Just Harper, okay?"

"Look, I'm not trying to be an arsehole but I'm not doing names right now." Vlocke said.

Harper scoffed and went back to her comm unit. Vlocke put his face in his hands. He regretted the fact that Zeke had saved him. If he and Untez had died fighting that would have been the way to go. Now, here, he had keep pushing to live and it was getting harder by the second.

 _Why'd you do it, Zeke? Why'd you leave me? Why do I keep ending up alone?_

"Hey!" Harper grabebd him by the shoulder.

Vlocke started and looked up at her wide eyed and on the verge of tears. She gasped, startled at the sudden expression on his face. Ashamed, he wiped his face with his arm.

"Are you..." She began.

"I'm fine! Just forget it." He sniffed.

"Um, yeah, erm, anyways," Harper said awkwardly, "We have about another klick and half to go. So, let's get moving."

Vlocke got up slowly and stumbled onto his feet. Harper moved to brace him again and he flicked her away with the back of his hand. "I'm fine."

"Bloody child." She mumbled to herself and threw the sniper hood back over her head. They moved through the adjoining halls with flickering lights and still noises. It was really unnerving for Vlocke to see just how quickly it got quiet.

Harper suddenly stopped and held up her hand. Vlocke stopped and listened. She crouched down and flicked off her light. He blinked his eye, adjusting to the darkness. When he could see well again, she was gone.

He searched left and right and when she wasn't there, he took a step back and leaned himself against the wall. One of the monsters must've grabbed her in that exact moment. Vlocke pulled the gun from his holster and shakily aimed it towards the door way.

"Fuck today." Vlocke said to himself.

Slowly, he moved towards the doorway. Hoping to get the drop on whatever was eating that lady's corpse by now. He also realized that he could just shoot himself and be done with it. Yet, that option didn't sit well with him either. Zeke, saved him, so he could keep living, he supposed.

He heard a faint shush. Vlocke froze. Listening for where the noise had come from.

"Over here." came a whisper.

Every alarm in Vlocke's body rang against the new voice. Slowly, he cocked back on the slide of the RE-45. _Fucking ghosts, mate._

"Over here!" The whisper urged him.

Vlocke's eyes kept searching for the sound of the voice. The monsters couldn't speak so far as he knew but maybe they were like Parrots and they could mimic speech?

Suddenly, Harper's face appeared amongst the darkness on the other side of the hall. "Come on, then."

 _Cloak!_ He angrily said to himself. Vlocke put the pistol back and slowly walked across the hall towards Harper. About halfway, he heard a crunch and froze. Harper's face shook quickly, advising him against looking or stopping. He did both.

There, beyond in the charred wreckage of the underground hanger was the ruin of an Ogre Titan. In the bowl, where the cockpit would be, two flyers were dining upon some charred remains. This was the hanger, Vlocke realized, this was where Zeke died. Vlocke turned one foot towards the room and began to walk down the ramp towards where his last friend had died.

"Z-!" He started but Harper's arm and hands wrapped around his mouth.

"Are you completely mental?" She hissed in his ear.

She pulled him back to cover and thankfully the two flyers hadn't noticed them. When they were in the room across the hall, she shoved him up against the wall.

"I'm sorry for your loss, I am but you really really need to pull it together, right now!"

Vlocke looked away from her, unable to look her in the eye. He was pathetic and he knew it. The more he tried to go on, the harder it felt to try.

"Look at me. Look. At. Me." She said to him.

Vlocke didn't want to look. Between, his grief, his shame, and his own hatred of himself, he couldn't bear to look. Somehow, though, he did. He always looked. His eyes met hers and he saw, he saw the same look in her eyes that now was in his own. Her emotions hadn't consumed her, like his had.

"I made my friend a promise and I'm going to keep it. You hear me?" Her tone filled him with the impression that it was already true. He exhaled and nodded as best he could. She released him and he stumbled back onto his feet.

They got moving again, down another dimly lit hall. He followed behind her as best he could. Occasionally, she would look back to check on him making sure he was still following behind her. The two of them followed the hallway until it concluded. Harper propped against the door, her eyes flicked back towards Vlocke and she slowly pushed through the door.

The door deposited them into an alleyway. Harper looked about for any signs of monsters. When it looked clear, she signaled Vlocke to come out. She raised up her rifle and checked her wrist-comm for directions. Harper looked back at him again and pulled off her mask.

"This would be easier if your jump-kit still worked." She said with a frown.

Vlocke looked around too. Normally, they would just bounce between the walls and up but without his kit that was out the window. Then it occurred to him, the PZ must be on top of the hanger.

"Where is this pickup anyways?" He asked.

"Up there." She pointed to the top of the hanger.

"I was afraid, you'd say that."

"Well, I didn't choose it, yeah?"

"Are there stairs? God, I feel like such a Grunt." Vlocke grumbled.

"Let's see," Harper said after a moment studying her wrist-comm, "this way."

They continued down the alleyway, snaking their way around crates until they came upon a ladder. Vlocke glared at it. Harper walked up to it and gave it good firm check.

"Come on, up ya go."

"Right." Vlocke looked up the length of the tall ladder. The entire time he just kept himself focused on reaching the top. There was a protective cage around the top most part but Vlocke didn't trust it to stop anything heavier than himself.

He reached the top and paused. Harper below him prodded him to continue. Vlocke was worried about coming face to face with that freaky monster back at the control tower. After more prodding, he pulled himself up onto the roof of the hanger. There was no one there. He wasn't sure what he expected. Harper pulled up next to him and looked about in a circle. She checked her watch next to be sure they were in time.

"No, no, no! Damn you." She cursed.

Vlocke sat down on the roof. This was about as far he'd thought he'd get. Harper continued to think out loud about getting to a radio to call for help or figuring out how to fly a Goblin. Vlocke didn't trouble himself with that. This was the end and he knew it.

 _This is Militia SAR, broadcasting on all channels, any survivors down there. I say again this is Militia Search and Rescue, anyone read?_

Harper squealed in relief, "Yes, yes, yes! We read you!"

"Copy that. We are en route to grid Charlie Four, over." The SAR pilot answered.

"Yes, we're here awaiting evac, over."

"Okay, good. Uh, what's the size of the evac, over?"

Harper paused and looked at Vlocke, with a worried look in her eyes.

"What you lookin' at me for? It's just us." Vlocke said.

"No, I know but do you think they won't come if its just two?"

"How should I know?"

"T – they're your side!" She uttered.

"Just tell them." Vlocke said impatiently.

"Um, it's just two of us." She told the SAR pilot.

"Copy, inbound in one mike, out."

Harper breathed a deep sigh of relief. She walked over and sat down next to Vlocke. They both sat and looked over the airfield. It was full of burning wrecks and pock marks and other forms of destruction. There getting closer was two leviathans marching triumphantly onto the concrete. He didn't watch them for too long, the sight of them made him dizzy.

Harper pulled off the hood and mask, shaking her hair from her face. She pulled the Longbow from her back and leaned it against herself. They both sat there in silence watching the creatures move off past the airfield until the SAR arrived. The dropship sent down a rescue line and once, they were both clipped in, they were reeled up and secured on board.

Vlocke relaxed back in the stiff seat as the Crow fired back into the atmosphere and back into space. Harper sat across from him, her head looking out the window. The crew chief came over with some bottle waters and MREs.

"Looks like you both saw the shit." He said, chewing some gum.

Neither of them responded but took the bottles gladly. The crew chief looked over Vlocke and cocked a grin. "You especially look like shit."

Vlocke looked up at him, dead tired. After all the shit, he just went through, this arsehole has the fucking nerve to make a joke?

Harper leaned towards him, "You want to shoot him or should I?"

Vlocke's mouth hung open a moment, then he chuckled, then laughed, and soon he began to laugh uproariously. Harper smiled and then began to laugh along with him. Freaked out, the crew chief moved back to the cock pit. "Fucking Pilots." They heard him mumble but they didn't care.

"Copy that _Wolcott_ , this is SAR One returning to base." The drop ship pilot relayed.

* * *

Barker entered the Titan Bay of the _Annapolis_ and made his way over to MacAllan. Bish was running a few last minute things by him. It was cute, he supposed, seeing how everyone doted on MacAllan. His former wingman, most certainly had stepped up in the world. MacAllan saw him come over and called out to him.

"Barker! Here for a Titan? It'll be just like old times." He shook his hand.

"Nah, sorry, Mac. Just the opposite."

"That so?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm taking a ride back to Concord with the rest of the wounded fleet but I wanted to say goodbye first. So – goodbye, I guess."

"You're gonna do it, aren't you?" Mac grinned.

Barker grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "I've been thinking about it."

"What name did you decide on?"

"Barker's Brewing Company." He said proudly.

"Is it gonna have the one eye, like we said back in the day?" Mac asked him pointing to his own eye.

Barker laughed, "Yeah, you bet Mac. Just for you."

"Take care, Barker. You stay sober now, you hear?"

"Where's the fun in that, Mac?" Barker laughed, maybe a little hallow.

"Alright." Mac said, giving him a parting nod.

Barker left the hanger to make the dropship off to the _Wolcott_. He'd done what Mac had asked of him. One day, he might return to Angel City, there were people he still knew there. But Robert "Barker" Taube was done with war for now. Now, he'd pursue another topic: barleys and wheats.


End file.
